


i was born to be spider-man

by georgiaswarr



Category: Alice Oseman Universe, I Was Born for This - Alice Oseman, Osemanverse
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Anxiety, Character Death, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Grief, Into the Spiderverse AU, M/M, Panic Attacks, Screenplay/Script Format, Spiders, also carol last gets drop-kicked at least once, also tw for:, and there is kind of a major character death???, angel is aro here because i say so, au where mac is even more unbearable than in canon, but don't worry, but it's more the parallel universe version of a major character, it gets angsty at times, so i'm not major archive warning it, so look forward to that, some violence, spider-man au, they're all happy in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26232280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/georgiaswarr/pseuds/georgiaswarr
Summary: Jimmy Kaga-Ricci's life has been more or less average until now. He's just begun university, he dreams about starting a band with his best friend, Rowan, and he's had about 5% fewer panic attacks ever since London got its very own resident superhero, the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Angel. However, when he gets bitten by a radioactive spider and subsequently witnesses Spider-Angel's death, his life is turned upside-down - sometimes literally. Now he has to deal with strange changes in his body, familiar displaced faces from parallel universes and a supervillain too greedy for his own good who might just cause the multiverse to collapse. Can Jimmy and his new friends save the worlds in time?
Relationships: Allister "Lister Bird & Jimmy Kaga-Ricci & Rowan Omondi, Allister "Lister" Bird & Bliss Lai, Allister "Lister" Bird & Rowan Omondi, Allister "Lister" Bird/Jimmy Kaga-Ricci, Bliss Lai & Fereshteh "Angel" Rahimi, Fereshteh "Angel" Rahimi & Juliet Schwartz, Jimmy Kaga-Ricci & Fereshteh "Angel" Rahimi, Jimmy Kaga-Ricci & Rowan Omondi, side hints of frowan laimondi and juliss
Comments: 45
Kudos: 18





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> i was very much inspired by that chapter of loveless where georgia reads a jimmy/rowan spider-man au and decided to write my own. except it's with platonic jowan and more like a general iwbft au in case you couldn't tell by the tags. here's some things to note before we start:  
> -since i very much suck at writing prose, this is written in screenplay format. if that doesn't work for you i obviously understand!  
> -some screenplay terminology for those who aren't familiar:  
> int. = interior  
> ext. = exterior  
> V.O. = voice over  
> CONT'D = continued  
> O.S = off-screen  
> -this fic is very much based on spider man: into the spider-verse, aka the best movie in cinematic history (except for the fact that miles' dad is a c*p).  
> -obviously you don't have to know the movie to get this story. it might help visualize certain aspects though. also, a basic knowledge of what a spider-man suit looks like would be ideal, but i think that's just common knowledge.  
> -while i have been to london a few times, i don't actually live there so my knowledge of the precise geography is less than perfect. forgive me.  
> -also, jimmy and rowan go to a fictional university for the sake of artistic liberties. we’ll just pretend that the london college of the arts is a thing in their parallel universe.  
> -tell me if there's any content warnings i've forgotten and i will add tags accordingly !

INT. BLACK BACKGROUND

A comic book is dropped onto a black background. At the top of it, we see the words "SPIDER-ANGEL" in bold letters. Beneath, a drawing of a masked Spider-Man type superhero -- Spider-Angel herself. She's wearing a loose, dark shirt with the outline of a golden spider on it over a black bodysuit with a golden spider-web pattern over it. To top the outfit off, there's a hijab, also golden, wrapped around her head and her mask.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Alright, let's do this one last time.

INT. A MUSEUM OF SORTS - DAY

A flash of 15-year old FERESHTEH in a school uniform, surrounded by other students, accompanies Spider-Angel's voice. They're probably on a school trip to a museum. Suddenly, we see a spider biting Fereshteh's hand.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
My name is Fereshteh Rahimi, and when I was fifteen, I was bitten by a radioactive spider.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

In quick succession, we see shots of Spider-Angel launching herself off a tall building with her spider-webs, running across the roofs of some houses, weaving and launching herself through traffic, running in front of a billboard advertising Koca-Soda instead of Coca-Cola, shooting her web and in the last shot she lands on top of the shard and looks over the sparkling city.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
For ten years I have been the one and only Spider-Angel. You know the rest.

EXT./INT. VARIOUS PLACES IN LONDON

The next sentences are accompanied by various flashes of Spider-Angel, the picture changing with each comma or full stop. Spider-Angel stopping a London-Eye gondola from falling off; Spider-Angel saving JULIET; Spider-Angel stopping a mugging; Fereshteh on campus at a London university; Spider-Angel hanging out with Juliet in a park, when her spidey-senses start tingling and she throws a car that was flying towards them into oblivion; Spider-Angel dropping from a tall tree, a cat in her arm, people around her applauding the heroic act; Spider-Angel disarming a bomb; Spider-Angel roundhouse-kicking a supervillain.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
I saved a bunch of people, met my best friend, saved the city, started studying psychology, saved the city again. And again. And again. And then one more time for good measure.

Next, there is a quick montage of her getting knocked down by various antagonists, such as a long, tentacle-like arm, a mutated humanoid crocodile-type figure or a supervillain in a mechanical suit.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
And even though there are days when I get knocked down from every possible angle and standing back up seems like a hopeless cause,

A close-up of Spider-Angel's face;

SPIDER-ANGEL (CONT'D)  
I still love being Spider-Angel.

Spider-Angel stands back up and shoots spider-webs at the crocodile.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
And I always find a way to come back.

Spider-Angel is standing on the shard again, looking at the sun setting over London. First, we see her from behind, with the sunrise as a backdrop, then another close-up of her face, the view reflected in the eyes of her mask.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Because the only thing standing between this city and oblivion… is me.

She launches herself off of the shard and across the skyline. She flies through the air, the rising sun like a halo around her head. The last shot is her giving a thumbs up to the camera.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
After all, there’s only one Spider-Angel, and you’re looking at her.

CUT TO

SUNDAY

INT. JIMMY'S ROOM IN KENT - DAY

The music changes to a chill rock song. We pan through JIMMY KAGA-RICCI'S room, which has several posters of various bands on the walls and piles of clothes strewn around it, which can be chalked up to the fact that there's also a fully packed but open suitcase on the bed. Jimmy himself is at a keyboard, headphones connected to it, playing an original song along to the music and singing half-finished lyrics. He's so caught up in the music that he doesn't notice the insistent knock on his door courtesy of his grandfather, PIERO RICCI, until it's too loud to ignore.

PIERO (O.S)  
Jimmy, we have to go!

The music halts as Jimmy stops playing and tears off his headphones. He looks at the time on his phone.

JIMMY  
Shit.

He jumps up and frantically shoves a few stray shirts into his suitcase.

JIMMY  
I'll be down in a sec!

PIERO (O.S)  
Okay, but be quick! We don't want to leave Rowan waiting in London for too long, do we?

JIMMY  
Shit shit shit. Yes, I'm coming!

The music starts up again as Jimmy forces the suitcase closed, grabs his keyboard under his arm and his luggage in the other hand, and clumsily exits his room. With help from his granddad, he gets all of his stuff down and into their car.

EXT. SMALL KENTISH VILLAGE - DAY

The music swells as they drive off through their small village and the camera rises over the rooftops to reveal, in bold letters, the title - I WAS BORN TO BE SPIDER-MAN.

EXT. MOTORWAY - DAY

A shot of a road sign announcing that they’re entering London. Another shot of Piero’s car.

INT. CAR - DAY

Jimmy and Piero are driving into London. The music fades into the low sound of the car’s radio.

PIERO  
So, Jim-Bob, how are you feeling now that we’re almost at your university?

JIMMY  
Mostly nervous. And worried. I guess sort of terrified that everything will go wrong…

Piero lifts his hand to Jimmy’s neck and pats it comfortingly.

PIERO  
I understand, change can be very terrifying, especially for people with anxiety. But you’re very lucky that you’re doing this together with your best friend. I know Rowan too, and I can guarantee he’ll be with you every step of the way.

JIMMY  
I just wish I could still see you all the time…

PIERO  
Oh, Jim-Bob… I promise that I’ll call you every day and you can tell me everything that’s on your mind. It’ll be like you never left!

JIMMY  
Yeah, that would be nice.

They fall back into a comfortable silence while the radio presenter starts droning off the news.

RADIO PRESENTER (O.S)  
In other news, London’s very own Spider-Angel saves the day again, this time stopping a murder attempt on a famous boy band member.

Piero chuckles.

PIERO  
One good thing is that you won’t have to worry about any muggings or stabbings, what with that great Spider-Angel protecting all of you!

JIMMY  
Yeah, she is an angel.

INT. DORM ROOM - EVENING

Piero is helping Jimmy unpack his suitcases in his new dorm room when they hear a knock on the door.

JIMMY  
Come in!

The door opens and ROWAN, Jimmy’s best friend steps in. He smiles.

ROWAN  
Hi!

JIMMY  
Rowan!

Jimmy runs over to the door and envelopes his best friend in a hug.

ROWAN  
Hey, Jim! Hello, Piero!

Jimmy and Rowan separate to give Rowan room for a handshake with Piero.

PIERO  
It’s great to see you again, Rowan. How were your holidays?

ROWAN  
Very relaxing, yeah!

PIERO  
And now you’re getting yourself comfortable in your dorm?

ROWAN  
Yeah, my room’s a few floors further down.

PIERO  
Well, I’m glad you two are so close to each other. But now that you’re here, I think it’s high time that I start the long journey back home. I don’t want all of it to be in the darkness!

EXT. ROADSIDE - EVENING

Jimmy and Piero are hugging each other, saying their goodbyes. Rowan is also there.

PIERO  
You’ll have the most amazing time here, Jim-Bob. I know it.

JIMMY  
I’ll miss you so much, grandad.

PIERO  
I’ll miss you too. I love you!

They separate from their hug.

JIMMY  
I love you too.

Piero gets into the driver’s seat, closes the door, starts the car and rolls down the window.

PIERO  
Bye Jimmy. Bye Rowan!

ROWAN  
See you soon!

JIMMY  
Bye, I love you!

They wave and blow kisses as Piero drives off.

ROWAN  
So… I’m guessing you want to rest a bit now before freshers week starts tomorrow.

JIMMY  
Yeah, that would probably be best.

Rowan smiles and throws his arm around Jimmy’s shoulder as the two of them walk back to the university.

MONDAY

EXT. LONDON COLLEGE OF THE ARTS CAMPUS - DAY

The next day, Jimmy and Rowan are walking across the quad of their university. Jimmy is holding a map of the campus.

ROWAN  
The best thing about art uni is that we’ll have more than enough drummers to choose from for our band!

JIMMY  
Ugh, as long as you do the actual choosing. I’m like Chidi from The Nice Place when it comes to that.

Rowan chuckles. They walk around a corner and Jimmy bumps into a guy neither of them knows. He is about their age, with light brown hair and a very bewildered look on his face. Jimmy drops the map.

JIMMY  
Shit, sorry!

He bends down to pick it up. The guy stares at both of them. He honestly looks like he’s seen a ghost.

GUY  
Jimmy? Rowan?

Jimmy stands back upright and takes a step back.

JIMMY  
(nervously)  
How do you know our names?

GUY  
Um, I- I remember you from school. In Kent. Anyway, I- I have to go.

He quickly walks past them and disappears behind the corner. Jimmy and Rowan look at each other, both confused.

JIMMY  
Do you remember that guy?

ROWAN  
No, not really… but how else would he know our names and where we’re from, we probably just never noticed him.

JIMMY  
Yeah, probably.

But Jimmy still looks worried. They continue walking.

JIMMY  
Anyway. Drummers. Maybe we could hang up flyers around campus?

ROWAN  
I like the way you think.

The camera pans out, Jimmy and Rowan walk through a big door adorned with a “Welcome Freshers!” banner and music starts playing to prepare for a first-day-of-freshers-week montage.

INT. UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE HALL - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan join a group of new students taking a campus tour. It is lead by a very deadpan-looking woman with long dark hair. Her nametag reads “Cecily Wills”.

CECILY  
I’m Cecily, I’m a counsellor/life coach here at LCA but please only come to me for important stuff, I can’t deal with another butt-hurt softboy who was rejected by his Juliet, she doesn’t owe you shit.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan hang up a notice saying they’re looking for a drummer on a bulletin board.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are jamming to the music of the montage along with an unknown drummer whose grip on his drumsticks keeps slipping.

EXT. CAMPUS QUAD - DAY

The two of them are on a tour around campus. Jimmy spots the weird guy that bumped into them earlier from afar and alerts Rowan. But when Rowan looks around, the guy is already gone.

INT. BIG HALL - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are signing up to various societies that have booths strewn around a big hall. Rowan signs up for orchestra and Jimmy for Pride Soc, for example.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - EVENING

Another quick sequence of them jamming to the music. The girl at the drums can’t keep up with the rhythm, though. One wonders how these people made it to an arts university.

INT. CAFETERIA - EVENING

Jimmy and Rowan eat their dinner at a table in the cafeteria, talking to some of their new acquaintances, such as a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, a girl with curly black hair and a girl wearing a shirt with a fried egg pattern on it.

INT. JIMMY’S DORM ROOM - NIGHT

The music fades out and we see Jimmy on his bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. He rolls over and picks up his phone. The time on it is well past midnight as he starts scrolling through Instagram.

A short while later, someone knocks. He stands up and trudges over to the door, opening it to reveal Rowan.

ROWAN  
Can’t sleep, huh? I saw you active on Instagram.

JIMMY  
And there I was so careful.

Rowan laughs.

ROWAN  
Come on, let’s get out of here.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - NIGHT

The two boys step into the music room. Rowan turns on the lights and a warm glow fills the room.

JIMMY  
How did you get the keys to this place?

ROWAN  
I asked Cecily. She’s nice, she doesn’t ask any questions. I think she mostly doesn’t care.

Jimmy sits down at the keyboard while Rowan picks up a bass guitar and plugs it in. They warm up their instruments a bit and then start playing an original song.

While they’re jamming, we see a spider slowly descend from the ceiling, on its back the words “Anderson Industries”. It flashes in and out of existence, the dimension it comes from trying to pull it back.

Jimmy is still playing and singing the song while the spider lands on the floor next to Jimmy’s foot and crawls under his trousers. It reappears on Jimmy’s hand, but he passionately hits a chord and the spider lands on the floor again.

Jimmy and Rowan play the last few notes and smile at each other, spirits lifted.

ROWAN  
Do you feel better?

JIMMY  
Much better. Thank you.

ROWAN  
I’m glad. But now it’s time for bed, young man.

Jimmy grins and reaches his hand to the off button on the keyboard. He suddenly spots the spider crawling back onto his hand. Before he can do anything, it bites him.

We see a shot of the inside of his bloodstream. A blue substance spreads through it, looking a bit like lightning, mutating his blood cells and turning them from red to blue.

Back outside, Jimmy forcefully swats the spider off his hand and gets up. As he and Rowan leave the room, we see one last shot of the now-dead spider lying on the floor, still flashing in and out of this universe. Rowan turns off the lights.

CUT TO BLACK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's the beginning! it's mostly a chapter to set the scene, i promise the action will begin in no time. comments are very much appreciated and you can also message me on tumblr or twitter (@georgiaswarr) if you have thoughts/questions/theories/anything you need to get off your mind xxx


	2. But the Angel flew off with a “Bye, bye!”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimmy goes through puberty. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter two, where the action beginnnnns
> 
> first of all, massive content warning for death, in this chapter the main villain shamelessly kills a hero, so reader discretion is advised (and this isn't really a spoiler, but we will see the hero again, don't worry).
> 
> also, heads-up, i had to write a very complicated setting that was very hard to describe and i can't guarantee that it'll make sense to anyone who doesn't have the collider from into the spiderverse fresh in mind, which is why i've added some links here for anyone who wants visuals:
> 
> http://conceptartworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Spider-Man-Into-The-Spider-Verse-Concept-Art-patrick-o-keefe-collider-0002.jpg
> 
> https://www.destroythecomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/super-collider.jpg
> 
> https://blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/1/3/1/131bbf907c4b0d59098ded6c73e49374c7216e73.jpeg

TUESDAY

INT. JIMMY’S DORM ROOM - MORNING

Jimmy is woken up by his phone buzzing insistently. He rubs his eyes and checks it to see several messages from Rowan. The latest one says “JIMMY. MUSIC ROOM. NOW.” Jimmy frowns, then gets up and pulls on his trousers. Except they’re a bit too short.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
That’s weird… my trousers shrank.

INT. HALLWAY - MORNING

Jimmy walks along the hallways leading to the music room, trying to readjust his trousers while walking. A few students who are out and about give him irritated looks. All the while, his internal voice drones on.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
But why would they shrink? Maybe I just suddenly grew overnight? Who has a sudden growth spurt at 18 years old? Is this some belated side effect of testosterone? Not that I'm complaining... And why is the voice in my head so loud?

He rounds a corner and sees Rowan by the door to the music room, looking through a small window in the door intently. Through it, they can hear some very skilled drumming.

JIMMY  
Hey, Ro.

ROWAN  
Shhh.

JIMMY  
(whispering)  
What’s going on here?

ROWAN  
(whispering)  
Do you hear that?

Jimmy looks through the window as well and spots the weird guy who knew their names the day before. He's playing the drums, completely lost in the rhythm. The drumming is excellent, and they both stare at him for a few moments. Then Rowan looks at Jimmy. They start whispering again.

ROWAN  
We need him, Jimmy.

JIMMY  
I don’t know… I’m still a bit weirded out that he knew us so well the other day.

ROWAN  
But he explained that he knows us from school!

JIMMY  
Except we don’t know him. I’m just afraid he might be a bit… stalkerish.

ROWAN  
Why would anyone stalk us? We’re nobodies!

JIMMY  
That's... fair.

Jimmy is sweating profusely now. Rowan looks at him, concerned.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
Why am I so sweaty?

ROWAN  
Why are you so sweaty? Shit, are you having a panic attack?

JIMMY  
Oh no, I’m okay.

ROWAN  
Okay…

He squints at Jimmy suspiciously.

ROWAN  
Are you a bit… taller?

JIMMY  
I guess I had a growth spurt tonight or something. I don’t know.

ROWAN  
Weird…

Jimmy puts a hand on Rowan’s shoulder and stirs his attention back to the drummer in the music room. However, when he tries to pull it away, it doesn’t work - it’s as if Jimmy’s hand is suddenly glued to Rowan’s shirt.

ROWAN  
What’s going on?

JIMMY  
I don’t know, my hand is stuck to your shirt!

He tries wrenching his hand away again, this time with a lot more force. This causes both of them to topple against the door to the music room with a loud thud. The drumming inside stops.

JIMMY  
Shit!

The door flies open, revealing the drummer. Jimmy and Rowan, who were kind of still leaning against the door, fall towards the guy, and Jimmy’s flailing hand lands in his hair.

GUY  
Aaaah! Ow!

They all tumble over each other, both of Jimmy’s hands still sticking to the other guys.

INT. INFIRMARY - DAY

The drummer’s hair is currently being cut off in order to separate him from Jimmy, who’s still stuck to it. Jimmy’s other hand is covered by a patch of fabric, which explains why Rowan’s shirt has one sleeve missing.

ROWAN  
So… um… what’s your name?

The drummer looks up, his face a mixture of emotions; irritation, confusion, but there's also a deep sadness there.

GUY  
Um, I’m Lis…beth.

ROWAN  
Lisbeth?

LISBETH  
Yeah. It’s... Austrian. And a girl’s name. My parents thought they were being quirky. By giving me a girl’s name, haha.

By now, Jimmy and Lisbeth are separated.

JIMMY  
Well, my parents did the same, so…

He laughs nervously as the nurse dismisses them and they step out of the infirmary.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

Lisbeth starts briskly walking away from the other two boys.

ROWAN  
Lisbeth, wait!

He rushes to catch up with the guy. Jimmy has no other choice but to join them.

ROWAN  
Wait! We heard you play the drums in there and you’re really good.

LISBETH  
Yeah, well, I practice a lot.

ROWAN  
Jimmy here and I actually really want to start a band and we still need a drummer…

LISBETH  
You’re looking in the wrong place. I have to go.

Lisbeth picks up his pace again and disappears around a corner, leaving Rowan and Jimmy in the dust.

ROWAN  
Well… this has been a weird morning.

Jimmy snorts pathetically.

JIMMY  
I’m going back to my room.

INT. A DIFFERENT HALLWAY - DAY

While Jimmy makes his way along the hallway to his room, surrounded by chattering students, thoughts are swirling through his head.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
What is happening? Why am I suddenly going through another puberty? How come my hands are so sticky and what is up with that weird Lisbeth guy, oh god, he probably hates me now, I can’t have people hating me, that’s the worst way to start uni, please tell me he doesn’t hate me even though he’s probably a stalker, oh my god, what if he is a stalker? And why are all my thoughts so loud?

He’s reached his room by now.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - DAY

Jimmy bursts through his door and slams it closed. He leans his forehead against it and takes a few deep breaths to calm down. Once his breathing is steady again, he makes his way over to his desk and opens the laptop that is on it. He types “clothes don’t fit i’m sweating my hands stick to everything” into google. The first result is a video of a talk show interview with none other than Spider-Angel. He clicks on it.

INTERVIEWER  
So, Spider-Angel, many of your fans have been wondering for years: what exactly happened when you first got your powers?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Whew, that was incredibly stressful. I went through so many weird changes. For one, I was suddenly taller, which wasn’t ideal considering how tall I already was.

The audience chuckles good-naturedly at that.

SPIDER-ANGEL (CONT’D)  
I was also just sweating all the time and it felt like the voice in my head was suddenly so much louder and more insistent. Plus, there come all these new powers. Let me tell you, you do not want to wake up and find that your hands have turned into super-glue overnight with no way to turn it off-

Jimmy closes his laptop, alarmed, and grabs the desk to push himself back. Unfortunately, his hands stay stuck to the desk, and due to a newfound strength that he suddenly possesses, the entire desk topples over, Jimmy falling off his chair along with it. He tries to stand up again, but the fact that he does that with an inhuman amount of force and strength causes him to launch backwards through his open window.

EXT. OUTSIDE JIMMY’S WINDOW - DAY

Suddenly, Jimmy is hanging a few meters below his window, the only thing keeping him from falling down is the fact that one of his hands is stuck to the wall.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
Fuck fuck fuck, please keep sticking, please keep sticking.

He slowly raises his other hand and touches his palm to the wall. It sticks. Somehow he manages to remove one hand from the wall at a time and thus climb back up to his room. He doesn’t see Lisbeth below on the street, who notices Jimmy’s stuggles.

LISBETH  
Oh fuck no.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - DAY

Jimmy has made it back into his room and collapses on his bed.

JIMMY  
This can’t be happening.

He groans loudly and buries his face under his pillow.

INT. CAFETERIA - EVENING

Jimmy and Rowan are seated at a table, eating dinner. Jimmy very gingerly picks up his fork out of fear he’ll start being sticky again. Rowan watches him, concerned.

ROWAN  
Jimmy, are you sure you’re okay?

JIMMY  
What do you know about Spider-Angel and her powers?

ROWAN  
I mean, they’re cool? Spider-like? I don’t know, I’m not that invested in Spidey lore… why?

Just then, the three girls Rowan and Jimmy were sitting with yesterday appear at their table and set down their dinner. They’re DARCY OLSSON, TARA JONES and FRANCES JANVIER, here at art school in London because why not.

DARCY  
Oooh, Spidey lore. Love her.

FRANCES  
Are you looking for an expert?

JIMMY  
I mean, I was just wondering, like, where she lives and stuff.

ROWAN  
I think the whole point of a secret identity is that we don’t know that…

FRANCES  
Actually, there’s a rumour that her new secret lair is in this abandoned tube tunnel in South Kensington. She’s been spotted going there a lot lately.

JIMMY  
South Kensington...

DARCY  
Personally, if I were Spider-Angel, I’d have my secret lair in an IKEA. The warehouse is great for swinging around practice, and you can literally go to bed so often. The dream.

FRANCES  
That tracks.

TARA  
How would you even get an IKEA, that property belongs to a corporation.

DARCY  
Well, obviously they’d give up their location for me and vacate and so on. They have to, I’m Spider-Angel.

While the girls bicker on about the logistics of having IKEA as your secret lair, Rowan looks at Jimmy, concerned and slightly suspicious. Jimmy notices.

JIMMY  
What?

ROWAN  
Nothing…

He goes back to eating his dinner.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Jimmy has his hood pulled low over his head as he walks along the streets of London that evening. He’s holding his phone which is opened to a Spider-Angel updates blog. The latest post reads “Spider-Angel spotted entering an abandoned underground tunnel in South Kensington”, accompanied by a blurry photo of an old, closed-off underground entrance. Jimmy lowers his phone to reveal that he’s standing in front of said entrance. He takes a deep breath, glances around to make sure nobody sees him and slips into the underground.

INT. ABANDONED UNDERGROUND STATION - NIGHT

Jimmy walks down the steps, his phone’s torch lighting the way. He reaches the bottom and suddenly feels a weird sense that he should go one way which is visualised through squiggly lines emitting from his head like sun rays. A spidey sense. He winces, confused at this new feeling, but follows his intuition across the platform, into a tunnel, until he reaches an old, rusty door a bit further along. Through it, we faintly hear the crashing and grunting sounds of an intense fight. Everything inside Jimmy screams “danger!” now and he steps back, realising what a terrible decision it was to come here, alone. Before he can escape, though, the wall next to him is broken in by a gigantic green hand. The hand retreats again and Jimmy curiously steps over to the hole and peeks through it.

INT. LARGE CIRCULAR ROOM - NIGHT

The hole is in the side of a large, oval room, though it feels more like the inside of a machine - probably because it is. White metal walls extend from each side of the hole, and suspended on both sides of the room are large metal cannon-like machines, pointing at each other, both in front of a bunch of scaffolding. Opposite Jimmy is a window looking into a control room full of people working at computers. Below Jimmy is the owner of the large green hand; a green minotaur-like man with dragon wings about three times Jimmy’s size, fighting none other than Spider-Angel.

He tries to punch her. She jumps out of the way, using her webs to launch herself onto one of the cannon-like structures. He follows her, and they face off on top of the machine.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I can’t let you do this, Harry. You guys are going to open up a black hole under London, don’t you understand the severity of that?

HARRY, APPARENTLY  
Oh, we do. We just don’t care.

He starts running towards her, and she jumps up, shooting another web that ties around Harry. She lands behind him and uses his momentum to pull him over her shoulder and yeet him away. While he flies, she shoots a web at the ceiling and pulls herself up, then crawls along it. Harry lands on the far side of the room, his crash causing an explosion, shaking up the whole place. Jimmy, who’s been watching all of this frozen in place, loses his footing and falls forwards. Spider-Angel, sensing something amiss, looks down and notices him.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Fuck.

She lets go of the ceiling and launches herself towards Jimmy, catching him just in time and slinging the two of them to the scaffolding on the other side of the room, which is in relative safety.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
You okay?

JIMMY  
Yeah, th-thank you.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
You probably shouldn’t be here, my guy.

She properly looks at him for the first time, and as soon as their eyes meet, the spidey-sense squiggly lines emit from both of their heads. Spider-Angel gasps.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
You’re like me!

JIMMY  
Y-yeah, I think so.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I thought I was the only one...

JIMMY  
I need to know how to change back to normal again…

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I don’t think you really have a say in the matter, mate. But I can help you, show you the ropes!

JIMMY  
(relieved)  
Yeah. That would be nice.

Their talk is interrupted by a loud whirring noise; the big machine is warming up.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I just need to destroy some stuff first. Can’t have the space-time continuum collapsing now, can we. Don’t move!

She stands up and jumps onto the railing, shooting out a web. Before she swings back into battle, she turns around one last time to get a good look at Jimmy.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I’ll be right back!

With those words, she jumps. In a series of complicated web-shots and swings, she makes her way up to the ceiling of the room, which she starts crawling across. Jimmy watches her in awe. She punches various areas on the ceiling until she finds a small hidden panel, which she pries open, revealing a web of wires and USB ports. She pulls out a stick and readies herself to insert it into one of the ports.

Before she can do so, however, her spidey senses start tingling again. She looks to her left, just to be met by a masked figure with a cape in a dark bodysuit. They have mechanical thrusters at their feet so that they can fly. The figure slams into Spider-Angel and together they land on one of the machines. Spider-Angel immediately stands up to square off against the figure. They start handing each other a series of punches and jabs, Spider-Angel eventually gaining the upper hand and knocking the figure over. She lands on top of them, one knee on their stomach and her hand ready to punch.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
That all you’ve got?

Before she can do anything, Harry appears out of nowhere and slams into her. Now she’s the one who’s pinned down with no place to go.

All the while, Jimmy stares at the spectacle, crouched down behind the railing. He slowly stands up after seeing Spider-Angel cornered.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
I should go up and help her…

He abruptly sits back down.

JIMMY’S INTERNAL VOICE  
No, that would be a terrible idea.

Suddenly, a booming voice cuts through the ruckus.

VOICE  
Oh, Spider-Angel. Fereshteh. I’m so glad you decided to join us for the launch of my latest toy! It’s going to be quite the light show.

The voice belongs to a lanky, 20something white boy, who has just appeared at the window of the control room.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Don’t do this, Mac! You don’t even know what kind of damage this’ll do!

MAC  
It can’t be worse than the damage done to my heart!

He turns to a woman sitting behind him at a computer.

MAC (CONT’D)  
That was a fun reference to our shared past, haha. Anyway, fire it up.

The woman types a command into the computer and the machine starts whirring even louder. Colourful interdimensional rifts start appearing in the openings to the machine.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
No!

For a few seconds, it’s still calm, then two orange beams start shooting out of the machines on both sides of the room, towards each other. Where they meet in the middle, the space starts turning black. Jimmy and Spider-Angel look on, shocked, while Mac grins widely. However, several screens in the control room start blinking red.

WOMAN AT THE COMPUTER  
I see multiple dimensions opening! Two… three… four separate dimensions! It’s unstable! We should stop!

Mac is starting to look panicked now. Spider-Angel uses the fact that Harry is also momentarily distracted to her advantage and bursts out of his grip. She shoots a web at the ceiling and starts pulling herself upwards, but Harry regains his composure and flies after her, catching her.

HARRY  
You’ll regret this!

He flies them over to the steadily growing black hole and pushes Spider-Angel’s head towards it. Spider-Angel looks on, frozen, as her atoms start being sucked into the black hole.

MAC  
Harry, don’t! You need to get away!

But it’s too late. Spider-Angel and Harry’s proximity have put too much strain on the machine and the interdimensional rift that is opening. The black hole shrinks back in on itself, causing an explosion of matter. Everybody is launched backwards, and the machines and scaffolding come crashing down, Jimmy with it.

What follows is an eerie quiet. The once pristine room is now smokey and littered with debris. Jimmy, who has landed on the floor, slowly stands up and regains his composure, looking around. He spots Spider-Angel lying beneath some broken machine parts. She looks miserable, and her suit is dirty and ripped in places. Jimmy rushes over to her.

JIMMY  
Are you okay?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Eh, just chilling.

Jimmy starts clearing some debris off of her.

JIMMY  
Can you get up?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I always do, my guy. I always do.

She coughs. From somewhere amongst the rubble comes Mac’s voice.

MAC  
Find her.

Jimmy looks at Spider-Angel, panicked.

JIMMY  
What do we do?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Okay, listen. We don’t have much time.

She presses the stick into Jimmy’s hands.

SPIDER-ANGEL (CONT’D)  
This key is the only way to stop Mac’s collider. You need to swing up there, use this key and push the button. That’s the only way this place can be destroyed for good, okay? Mac won’t stop until he gets what he wants, and we cannot let him destroy the universe. This is the only way to make sure we don’t all die, you get me?

JIMMY  
Wh- what?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Please. Promise me you’ll do this.

JIMMY  
O- okay… I promise…

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Thank you. Now go!

Jimmy slowly walks backwards, then turns around and starts climbing some of the broken scaffolding. He looks up at where the panel is and is immediately overwhelmed at how much further he still has to go.

MAC  
You!

Jimmy, frightened, turns around and sees Mac below him, talking to some of his lackeys.

MAC  
Get that thing ready to go again ASAP. We can’t waste any more time on tests.

Mac dismisses his lackey and then saunters towards Spider-Angel.

MAC  
Ah, Fereshteh. Long time no see. How’s Juliet doing these days?

SPIDER-ANGEL  
Well, she’s definitely not wasting a single thought on you anymore if that’s what you’re asking.

MAC  
Ergh, anyway.

He turns to the cape-y figure behind him.

MAC (CONT’D)  
I think the world has had just about enough of our sweet little Spider-Angel, don’t you, Lloyd?

Lloyd nods and starts walking towards Spider-Angel. He raises his mechanical gloves, and wolverine-like claws extract from them.

SPIDER-ANGEL  
I know what you’re trying to do, Mac! I know that this isn’t just about the money! But you can’t just change the past as it suits you, just accept that Juliet doesn’t like you anymore!

Mac’s face twists into a grimace.

MAC  
Shut up!

He grabs a heavy piece of scrap metal and bashes it down, hard. Jimmy watches in shock, still crouched down behind some debris. At seeing Mac so shamelessly kill Spider-Angel, he lets out a whimper. Mac spins around. He spots Jimmy and narrows his eyes. Jimmy immediately jumps up and starts clambering towards the exit. In his panicked state, he manages to stick to the wall and crawl up to the hole.

MAC  
Lloyd? Kill that guy.

Lloyd takes off after Jimmy. Jimmy makes his way up even faster, pure adrenaline by now, and crawls over the ledge of the hole.

INT. UNDERGROUND TUNNELS - NIGHT

Lloyd is dangerously close as Jimmy starts running back down the tunnel and up the stairs. He buys himself some time by throwing some discarded boards in Lloyd’s way. He manages to rush out of the underground and back onto the streets.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Jimmy runs along the streets of London, dodging cars and bumping past pedestrians. As he runs, Lloyd revs up a motorcycle that matches his cyborg-like aesthetic. He follows Jimmy through the streets. Jimmy turns a corner and lands on a busy square, where he is able to blend into the mass of people. Lloyd stops his bike and tries to find his victim in the crowd, to no avail.

On the other side of the square, Jimmy emerges and dodges into a side street. Having successfully shaken off Lloyd, he makes his way back to university. The last shot we see is of him breathing heavily, tears streaming down his face.

CUT TO BLACK

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the plot doth thicken...
> 
> (and yes, i know that mac is definitely not super-villain material in canon, but this is literally an alternate universe and some things have to be done for plot convenience)


	3. I don't think she meant you specifically

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimmy plays dress-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a bit of a shorter filler chapter, but things are definitely heating up...

INT. PIERO’S LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

The news about Spider-Angel’s death has broken. Back in Kent, Piero is watching a news presenter on TV talk about what happened. He has a sad look on his face.

NEWS PRESENTER  
We have some tragic breaking news. London’s very own superhero, Spider-Angel, was found dead tonight.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

All around London, people look at their phones. The anguish on their faces is almost unbearable.

NEWS PRESENTER (V.O)  
It has been revealed that behind the mask, Spider-Angel is a 25-year-old psychology graduate named Fereshteh Rahimi.

INT. ROWAN’S ROOM - NIGHT

Rowan is also looking at the news on his phone.

NEWS PRESENTER  
She is succeeded by her parents, her brother and her best friend, Juliet.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - NIGHT

Jimmy is sitting on the floor of his room in a fetal position, his face buried in his knees, rocking back and forth and breathing heavily. He’s just come back from watching Spider-Angel die and is now in the middle of a full-blown panic attack. At his door, an insistent knock starts.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Jimmy?

Jimmy is unable to answer.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Jimmy, I think the door is unlocked, so I’m coming in!

The door opens, and Rowan comes in. He notices his best friend on the floor, suffering, and immediately rushes over to him.

ROWAN  
Fuck. Jimmy.

Jimmy’s breaths get quicker.

ROWAN  
Jimmy, look at me. You’re having a panic attack. Look at me, Jimmy.

Jimmy slowly lifts his head and focuses on Rowan. He’s still breathing heavily, and tears are running down his face.

ROWAN  
Breathe with me. Breathe in...

Rowan breathes in deeply. Jimmy tries to copy him, but his breaths still come out much faster than Rowan’s.

ROWAN  
Breathe out. Breathe in.

Jimmy tries to copy again. This time it works a bit better, but his breathing is still very irregular.

ROWAN  
Breathe out.

They repeat this several times until Jimmy’s breathing slowly calms down. He leans over to bury his face in Rowan’s shirt and sobs.

ROWAN  
Shhh, it’s alright, I’m here, I’m with you.

Jimmy nods.

ROWAN  
Did anything happen? Anything you want to talk about?

Jimmy sits back again and takes a shaky breath.

JIMMY  
She’s- she's dead, and she was supposed to help me learn how to control my powers and teach me everything she knows, but now Mac killed her and I was right there and I should have helped her, but I just ran away and now nobody’s here to protect London anymore and I’m supposed to save the universe, but I don’t know how-

ROWAN  
Wait, wait, wait. Who’s dead? And what powers?

JIMMY  
Spider-Angel. Spider-Angel is dead.

Realisation dawns on Rowan’s face as Jimmy takes another shaky breath.

JIMMY  
I think I may be the next Spider-Angel.

WEDNESDAY

EXT. STEPS - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are on the steps that lead to the front door of the main university building. They’re eating a snack.

ROWAN  
So… have you decided what you’re going to do yet?

JIMMY  
Ugh. No. I honestly don’t want to think about it right now.

ROWAN  
If you say so...

He looks away from Jimmy again and notices Lisbeth on the other side of the quad.

ROWAN  
Do you think Lisbeth is his real name?

JIMMY  
Huh?

He follows Rowan’s gaze.

JIMMY  
Oh, um, no idea, why?

ROWAN  
Well, he just seemed really unsure when we asked him…

JIMMY  
Well, if he says that’s his name then that’s his name. Actually, how do we even know Lisbeth’s pronouns?

ROWAN  
You’re right. Okay, I’m going to talk to them again.

He stands up and briskly walks over to where Lisbeth is talking to a student. Jimmy follows him.

ROWAN  
Hi! Lisbeth! What’s whirring!

Lisbeth turns to look at him, irritated, the other student forgotten.

LISBETH  
Um… a ceiling fan?

ROWAN  
Ha! That was funny. Anyway, have you thought about the band thing yet?

LISBETH  
Oh, fuck off.

He rolls his eyes and shoves past Rowan. As he walks away, he loses his balance once and has to steady himself on a wall.

ROWAN  
(calling after him)  
What are your pronouns?

But Lisbeth has already turned a corner.

STUDENT  
I think they're drunk.

ROWAN  
Yeah, no shit.

INT. SPIDER-ANGEL THEMED SHOP - DAY

Jimmy is standing in line at the Spider-Angel Museum gift shop. He steps to the till and puts a Spider-Angel costume on it. The woman who rings him up has a name tag that reads “Carys”.

CARYS  
That’ll be 14.99.

Jimmy gives her the money. She hesitates, probably sensing the emotional turmoil radiating off him.

CARYS  
You know, whatever it is you’re going through right now, in my experience things always work out. Sometimes you’ve just gotta tell life where to stick it and take a leap of fate. That’s all it is.

JIMMY  
Thanks.

CARYS  
Have a nice day!

EXT. TRAFALGAR SQUARE - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan walk into a large crowd of people gathered on Trafalgar square for a Spider-Angel memorial, all facing the National Gallery, where JULIET and DOROTHY SCHWARTZ, as well as Fereshteh’s parents and brother, are standing behind a podium. While Juliet speaks, the two of them push their way closer to the front of the crowd.

JULIET  
Fereshteh, my best friend, was a great hero, but she was also an ordinary person. She always said it could have been anyone behind that mask. She just happened to get bitten. She didn’t ask for her powers, but she chose to be Spider-Angel. My favourite thing about Fereshteh was that she made us all feel like we have our own kind of power. In a way, we’re all Spider-Angel. And we’re counting on you.

Jimmy’s eyes widen at those last words, filled with anxiety but also a new sort of determination.

EXT. ROOFTOP OF AN OFFICE BUILDING - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are standing on top of a building that’s about ten storeys tall. Across the street from it is another building of approximately the same height, which Jimmy and Rowan are eyeing intently. Jimmy has changed into the Spider-Angel costume (sans hijab, because of cultural appropriation).

ROWAN  
Are you sure about this?

JIMMY  
I have to do this. You heard Juliet, they’re counting on me.

ROWAN  
Well, I don’t think she meant you specifically, it was probably more of a metaphor.

JIMMY  
I’m doing this. I can jump these few feet, I have Spider-Angel’s powers now.

ROWAN  
I just- please be careful, okay?

Jimmy steps up to the ledge of the roof and stares down. Suddenly he’s overwhelmed by anxiety again. His breath starts to quicken and he steps back again.

JIMMY  
You’re right, I can’t do this.

ROWAN  
Fuck, Jimmy, are you okay?

He rushes up to Jimmy, concerned. Jimmy takes a few deep breaths, centring himself.

JIMMY  
Yeah. In a sense, I guess I am partially prepared to be Spider-Angel. I’ve had this spidey-sense called chronic anxiety my whole life, after all.

They both laugh weakly at the irony of the situation.

JIMMY  
Gosh, I feel so worthless.

ROWAN  
You know this doesn’t have to be your responsibility, right? You’re just a teenager, you didn’t ask for any of this.

JIMMY  
But who else is going to do it if not me?

ROWAN  
I don’t know. The military?

JIMMY  
Yeah, no, they’re all in Mac’s pocket, I’m sure.

ROWAN  
Yeah, I guess you’re right. Just… promise that you won’t do this alone? You’ll take me with you wherever you go?

JIMMY  
But you don’t have any powers…

ROWAN  
(in a dramatic, joking tone)  
I have the power of friendship on my side.

They both break out in giggles.

ROWAN  
Come on, let’s try this again tomorrow.

He takes Jimmy's hand, and they walk towards the exit of the roof.

INT. JIMMY’S DORM - NIGHT

Jimmy is tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep. At one point, he decides to pull out the flash-drive and stares at it, thoughts churning. Then he sits upright, gets off the bed and slips back into the Spider-Angel costume.

EXT. CEMETARY - NIGHT

Jimmy walks up to Fereshteh’s grave, which is in a small cemetery close to some train tracks. He’s wearing his Spider-Angel costume. He looks at the gravestone for a long time, hugging himself.

JIMMY  
I’m sorry, Ms Rahimi. I don’t know how to do any of this.

He pulls the flash-drive out of his pocket. Tears start to form in his eyes.

JIMMY (CONT’D)  
I want to be a good Spider-Angel and save the world from Mac, but… I just don’t know how. Why did the spider have to bite me of all people?

He wipes away the tears that are streaming down his face and looks to the sky. He doesn’t notice the figure that has appeared behind him.

JIMMY (CONT’D)  
Please just- send me a sign! Anything!

The figure reaches out and touches his shoulder.

FIGURE  
Hey-

Jimmy spins around with a yelp. The flash-drive flies out of his hand, right under the wheels of an approaching train. With a sickening “crunch” it breaks into a million pieces as the train speeds past them.

JIMMY  
(panicked)  
No, no, no-

He looks up at the figure and stops in his tracks. Standing before him is none other than Fereshteh Rahimi, aka an unmasked Spider-Angel in all her glory. She looks a few years younger than her counterpart from this universe, and the spider-suit she’s wearing from the neck down looks slightly more amateur-ish and run-down, but apart from that, she’s a literal copy. Behind her, the glow of a streetlight surrounds her head because we’re going strong with the religious symbolism in this one. She looks back and forth between Jimmy and the tracks, concerned. When her gaze properly lands on Jimmy, spidey-sense lines emit from both of their heads again.

JIMMY  
S- Spider-Angel?

CUT TO BLACK


	4. Angel Rahimi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet some spiders.

INT. BLACK BACKGROUND

Another comic book lands on the Spider-Angel comic from the beginning of the movie. This one has an unmasked version of Spider-Angel on it (though still in her suit) and reads “The Amazing Spider-Angel”.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Alright, people, let’s do this one last time.

INT. A MUSEUM OF SORTS - DAY

Spider-Angel's voice is accompanied by a flash of ANGEL, ca 15 years old in her normal school uniform, surrounded by other students. They're probably on a school trip to a museum. Suddenly, we see a spider biting Angel's hand.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
My name is Angel Rahimi. I was bitten by a radioactive spider...

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

In quick succession, we see shots of Spider-Angel launching herself off a tall building with her spider-webs, running across the roofs of some houses, weaving and launching herself through traffic, running in front of a billboard advertising Coca-Cola, shooting her web and in the last shot she lands on top of the shard, phone in hand. She sits down at the top and starts scrolling through social media.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...and for the last five years, I thought I was the one and only Spider-Angel. You know the rest.

INT./EXT. VARIOUS PLACES IN LONDON

The next sentences are accompanied by various flashes of Spider-Angel, the picture changing with each comma or full stop. Spider-Angel stopping a train from derailing; Spider-Angel saving JULIET; Angel moving in with Juliet, holding boxes and looking happy; Spider-Angel stopping a mugging; Spider-Angel punching a guy; Spider-Angel shooting webs at a figure in an alley but when she pulls them into the light, it turns out they’re really young; a video of said act being passed around the internet, blown out of proportion; Spider-Angel disarming a bomb; Spider-Angel roundhouse-kicking a supervillain.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
I saved the city, met my best friend, Juliet, moved in with her, saved the city again and again and again and again and again...

INT. PHOTO STUDIO - DAY

Spider-Angel is modelling for a brand.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...did some questionable brand deals...

INT. SOCIAL MEDIA FEED

We see flashes of several tweets talking about how the brand Spider-Angel was working with is hella problematic, even more so than most brands, each tweet accompanied by the hashtag #SpiderAngelIsOverParty.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...got cancelled all over social media...

INT. ANGEL AND JULIET’S OLD FLAT - DAY

Angel and Juliet are fighting.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...got into a huge fight with Juliet...

INT. TWITTER FEED

More tweets are shown, most of them commenting on an apology video of Angel’s that seems rather bad and disingenuous. #SpiderAngelIsOverParty is trending once again.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...said some more questionable things over social media, got cancelled again...

INT. ANGEL’S NEW FLAT - DAY

Angel is moving into a new flat, this time very unhappy.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O, CONT’D)  
...Juliet decided she didn’t want to be my friend unless I got my shit together, so I had to move into a cheap flat, but I handled it like a champ.

This is followed by several flashes of Angel screaming and swatting at a rat with a broom, Angel crying in a bathtub and Angel lying face-down on her bed.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Cause you know, no matter how many times I get hit, I always get back up.

Angel is in her Spider-Angel suit, sitting on her bed, scrolling through social media.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Flash-forward, I’m in my flat, being productive when this extremely odd thing happened.

Suddenly, weird colours start appearing on the ceiling, a black hole forming in the middle of them.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
I mean, odd things happen to me a lot, but this was odd odd.

Angel slowly starts levitating towards the black hole. She’s pulled towards it faster and faster and just manages to grab her mask before she is sucked into the black hole and through an inter-dimensional rift.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

She’s spit out on a busy London Picadilly street with enough force to propel her far through traffic and against a large billboard advertising Koca-Soda. She falls onto the pavement and slowly stands up, looking around at the advertisements for products and shows just slightly different than what she’s used to.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
You see, I was in London, but things were different.

She spots one screen showing the news that the Spider-Angel from this universe had died.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
Also, I was dead.

EXT. TRAFALGAR SQUARE - DAY

Angel is at the Spider-Angel memorial, looking at the crowd from a rooftop.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
I have a feeling that the thing that brought me here… was the thing that got her killed.

EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT

We’re back to seeing Jimmy at the cemetery and Angel coming up behind him.

SPIDER-ANGEL (V.O)  
And now I’m here.

INT. DINER - NIGHT

Jimmy and Angel are seated at a 24-hour diner, waiting to be served.

ANGEL  
So… yeah.

JIMMY  
So wait… you’re actually from an alternate dimension?

ANGEL  
That seems to be the most logical explanation, yeah.

JIMMY  
And you’re here now because Mac built that machine.

ANGEL  
Sounds about right to me. Fuck, this is so strange.

JIMMY  
Tell me about it. I have so many questions.

ANGEL  
Ask away, young padawan.

JIMMY  
Is your name actually Angel? Cause here you’re called Fereshteh…

ANGEL  
Yeah, Fereshteh is my name too, it’s the Farsi word for Angel, but hardly anyone calls me that these days. I guess Angel is kind of my superhero alias?

JIMMY  
But you’re in your civilian form right now.

ANGEL  
Civilian form, superhero form, where even is the line nowadays, you get me?

JIMMY  
Um… well, anyway, the other Spider-Angel said she would teach me how to use my powers, show me the ropes and all that… I mean, I really don’t want to inconvenience you or anything, but could you help me? You don’t have to though, it’s fine…

ANGEL  
Nah, I’ll help you! I’ve always wanted to be a mentor, that sounds so cool.

JIMMY  
(relieved)  
Cool, thanks! Especially cause we also need to find a way to stop Mac before he destroys the universe and stuff…

ANGEL  
Fuck, yeah, that whole thing. We also need to find a way to get me back home, my followers are going to wonder where I am.

JIMMY  
Followers?

ANGEL  
I have quite a following of fans on social media. Comes with the territory. Anyway-

She’s interrupted by the waiter, who puts some plates down on the table. Jimmy looks at him and is surprised to find Lisbeth, except his hair is the way it was before Jimmy stuck to it.

JIMMY  
Lisbeth?

WAITER  
Huh?

JIMMY  
You work here? Wait, did your hair already grow back?

WAITER  
I’m sorry, do I know you? Also, who’s Lisbeth, my name is Lister.

JIMMY  
Oh, right, sorryyyy…

LISTER  
Anyway, enjoy your meal.

He leaves them and Jimmy looks after him, confused.

ANGEL  
Who was that?

JIMMY  
I honestly don’t know.

ANGEL  
Okay, anyway, what were we talking about? Right, followers. That’s actually a good first lesson, if you want to be a successful and popular Spider-Angel I recommend working on your image, maybe start by building a solid social media presence. What bad guy is gonna dare to hurt you if you’ve got an army of teenage fans behind you, ready to take a bullet for you, am I right?

JIMMY  
That sounds stressful…

ANGEL  
Well, yeah, it can be, you’ll have to be careful what you say, make sure you don’t do something that might be misinterpreted or taken out of context, but you know, it’s worth it in the end, I love being Spider-Angel, it’s, like, the only thing I’m good at. Wow, that sounded kind of sad. I promise I have a life.

She laughs nervously. Jimmy has a concerned frown on his face.

ANGEL  
Anyway, sorry for babbling, I’ll stop now. Saving the world. Right. From what you told me I’m guessing we still have a few days to break into Anderson Industries, reconstruct the data we need and then save the world and all that, plenty of time to give you some basic training beforehand, right? In my experience, these bad guys need around a week to recover? That’s okay, we can work with that.

JIMMY  
Yeah, sounds great!

ANGEL  
Cool.

She claps once.

ANGEL (CONT’D)  
Anyway. I’m tired, so how bout we meet tomorrow to start training?

JIMMY  
Yeah, let’s.

ANGEL  
Amaze. Also, I don’t have any money or a place to sleep, sooooo…

THURSDAY

EXT. WOODS - DAY

The next day, Jimmy and Angel find themselves in a forest near London. They’re both wearing their Spider-Angel suits.

ANGEL  
Okay, who’s ready for some lessons in slingshotting!

JIMMY  
Uh, sure, yeah.

ANGEL  
Cool, right, so, take this.

She hands him one of her web-shooters. He gingerly takes it and inspects it with great care.

ANGEL  
Don’t worry, you won’t break it, just put it on.

Jimmy nods and slips it around his wrist.

ANGEL  
Alright then, to release a web you’ll just have to double-tap down here...

She taps the part of the web-shooters that extend to her hand, and a web shoots out. Jimmy copies her and also manages to attach one of his webs to a tree.

ANGEL (CONT’D)  
And then the web will shoot out, exactly, and then you can just kind of pull yourself up.

She pulls herself several feet off the ground, swings through the trees, lets go of her web, releases another web, swerves around the trees, lets go again, does a flip in mid-air and lands back next to Jimmy, who’s staring at her in a sort of panicked awe.

ANGEL  
So yeah, do you want to have a go?

JIMMY  
Um…

ANGEL  
I’ll hold your hand if you want to, we can do this together.

JIMMY  
O- okay.

Angel grabs his hand and shoots another web up at the trees.

ANGEL  
Alright, so just pull yourself up like so.

The two of them slowly manage to rise off the ground.

ANGEL  
Amazing! You’re a natural!

The two of them hang suspended in the air, gently swinging back and forth.

ANGEL (CONT’D)  
Okay, now obviously we’re swinging quite slowly right now, but when we reach the highest point of our swinging over there you’ll just have to let go, let yourself be propelled forwards a bit and then thwip another web, can you do that?

JIMMY  
I don’t know.

They reach another high point in their swinging.

ANGEL  
Now!

She lets go. Jimmy doesn’t. This poses a problem, as they’re still holding hands. Angel is pulled backwards again, and Jimmy loses his grip on the web. The two of them come crashing down.

JIMMY  
Fuck! I’m so sorry.

They sit up. Jimmy's breathing quickens.

ANGEL  
Hey, it’s no stress! Nobody’s perfect the first time around.

JIMMY  
But I can’t afford to be bad at this right now! We don’t have much time!

ANGEL  
No, trust me, mate, it's okay!

Jimmy is breathing very erratically by now.

ANGEL  
Jimmy, what’s happening?

JIMMY  
I- I-

Tears form in his eyes.

ANGEL  
Jimmy, are you okay? Do you need help? Can you tell me what’s going on with you?

Jimmy is chocking on his sobs, unable to answer.

ANGEL  
(desperate)  
What do you need me to do? I don’t understand!

JIMMY  
P- please-

ANGEL  
Are you having a panic attack?

Jimmy nods shakily.

ANGEL  
Fuck, okay, um.

She crawls closer to him.

ANGEL  
Maybe try taking a few deep breaths?

She takes a comically deep breath. Jimmy tries to follow her lead, but doesn't quite manage.

ANGEL  
Breathe in…

She breathes out with a whoosh.

ANGEL  
Breathe out… Breathe in… Breathe out...

They do that a few more times.

ANGEL  
Okay, just continue doing that. I’ll ask you a few questions, is that alright, Jimmy?

Jimmy nods, trying to take calming breaths, even though those still often result in irregularities.

ANGEL  
So can you tell me where you’re going to uni right now?

JIMMY  
T-the London College o-of the Arts.

ANGEL  
That’s a very prestigious school, right?

JIMMY  
Y-yeah.

ANGEL  
Have you made any friends yet?

Jimmy nods. His breathing is already a bit calmer.

JIMMY  
My best friend Rowan is there with me and we also met these three really nice girls.

ANGEL  
That must be very nice to have your best friend at university.

Jimmy’s breathing has calmed down now.

JIMMY  
Yeah, it is.

ANGEL  
Are you feeling better?

JIMMY  
Yeah, I think I am. Thank you.

ANGEL  
Hey, it’s no problem. I’m always here to help. Do you get these often?

JIMMY  
Yeah, at least once a month.

ANGEL  
I’m sorry. You know, maybe the web-slinging can be a good breathing exercise!

JIMMY  
W- what do you mean?

ANGEL  
Like, you breathe in when you shoot a web, and you breathe out when you swing, you know? It might centre you or something. But I don’t know, I’m not very familiar with the exact logistics of panic attacks, sorry.

JIMMY  
Maybe. Though that would have been good to know earlier.

ANGEL  
Yeah, probably. So… do you want to try again?

Jimmy shrugs. Angel starts getting back onto her feet. However, suddenly something strange happens to her body: in a split second, it starts glitching, as if trying to get back to its own universe - a bit like the spider that bit Jimmy. Angel falls back down onto the ground.

ANGEL  
What the fuck.

JIMMY  
Shit, are you okay?

He crawls over to her.

ANGEL  
I don’t-

She glitches again.

JIMMY  
What’s happening?

ANGEL  
I think this is probably some sort of side-effect of the fact that I’m in the wrong parallel universe.

Jimmy rolls onto his back and groans.

JIMMY  
Whyyyy? Why does everything have to be so much?

ANGEL  
I think it’s probably best if we go home and take a break right now.

INT. JIMMY’S DORM ROOM - DAY

Rowan has been staring at Jimmy and the previously presumed dead Spider-Angel for probably about a minute now.

ROWAN  
You have got to be shitting me.

JIMMY  
Yeah. Angel, Rowan, Rowan, Angel.

ROWAN  
What the fuck? Who the fuck are you supposed to be?

ANGEL  
I’m Spider-Angel from a parallel universe.

ROWAN  
And that’s just supposed to make sense to me? What the fuck… Jimmy, why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? You promised we’d do this together!

JIMMY  
I know, I’m so sorry Rowan. It was all just so confusing, but I know that’s no excuse and I should have told you.

ROWAN  
It's fine, I get it. Just keep me in the loop from now on.

Just then, Angel starts glitching again.

ROWAN  
And why is this happening now.

ANGEL  
Side-effect of multiverse travel, it’s fine.

ROWAN  
No, it’s not, we have to find out how to help you!

ANGEL  
And how do you suggest we do that?

JIMMY  
Maybe some doctors or scientists could help?

ROWAN  
Yeah, Frances mentioned that one of her friends is studying science at the LAS, I’m guessing that’s a person we can trust.

JIMMY  
(grinning)  
Oooh, so you trust Frances?

ROWAN  
(irritated)  
Yeah, what are you implying?

JIMMY  
Nothing, nothing! She just seems a bit like your type, that’s all.

Angel snickers and Rowan shakes his head, but he’s flustered when he pulls out his phone to contact Frances.

INT. SCIENCE UNIVERSITY - DAY

Jimmy, Angel and Rowan walk through the sleek entrance hall of the London Academy of the Sciences. They look around the room.

ROWAN  
Frances said her friend should be waiting by the big statue of the atom, I’m guessing that’s him.

They go towards a guy who’s sitting on a bench next to the statue. He stands up when they reach him.

ROWAN  
Are you Dae-Sung Jun, Frances’ friend?

DAE-SUNG, APPARENTLY  
Yes, that would be me. And you’re Rowan, Jimmy and Angel?

ROWAN  
Yes, exactly, I’m Rowan, hi!

DAE-SUNG  
Frances said you were scientifically... interesting and that I should trust her when she said I’d want to know you, but she didn’t elaborate…

His gaze lands on Angel and he frowns, recognition dawning on his face even though she’s wearing her large sunglasses again. Angel takes them off and smiles awkwardly.

ANGEL  
Hi, I’m Spider-Angel!

DAE-SUNG  
This is… wow, okay, we should probably go to a more private place.

ANGEL  
Sounds good.

He leads them away from the statue.

INT. SCIENCE LAB - DAY

Dae-Sung opens the door to a fully equipped science lab with several computers, gadgets, beakers and the like, and motions for them to enter. The only other person inside is a small girl with short, curly hair, doing some work at a computer. She looks up.

GIRL  
Hey, Dae-Sung!

DAE-SUNG  
Hey, Pip, these are Jimmy, Rowan and Angel. This is my friend Pip, she’s very good at what she does.

The others greet her. Pip frowns at Angel.

PIP  
Do I know you from somewhere?

ANGEL  
Yes, well, I’m actually Spider-Angel from a parallel universe.

Pip stares at her, slack-jawed.

PIP  
No way… you’re not just shitting me, are you?

DAE-SUNG  
It appears they’re dead serious.

Angel glitches, as if to prove a point.

PIP  
This is… I… whaaaaat…

DAE-SUNG  
I guess now that the secret’s out you can help us, right, Pip?

PIP  
Um, yeah, absolutely, okay…

DAE-SUNG  
So, what do you need us to do?

JIMMY  
Well, Angel has been kind of glitching weirdly a lot, and we want to know what to do basically…

PIP  
Wait, I’m still stuck on the whole “parallel universe” thing, this is kind of turning my world around right now.

JIMMY  
Yeah, tell me about it.

PIP  
Angel, would it be okay if Dae-Sung and I took some of your blood, maybe did some tests? It’ll probably give us more answers in general…

ANGEL  
Sure, go ahead, my guy!

Pip rushes over to a cupboard and starts rummaging through it.

DAE-SUNG  
Why don’t you all take a seat, this might take a while.

INT. SCIENCE LAB - DAY

Pip and Dae-Sung are hunched over a computer, talking quietly but animatedly to each other. Jimmy, Rowan and Angel are sitting on chairs in a corner, waiting for them to share their scientific results.

JIMMY  
Do you think it was a good idea to trust these people so quickly? What if they work for Mac?

ANGEL  
If it’s any consolation, I don’t know how this knowledge would even help Mac, he already knows more than us…

ROWAN  
I think the reasons why they wouldn’t work for Mac outweigh the reasons they would. And I trust Frances’ judgement.

ANGEL  
That’s very sweet! I think. Anyway, how’s it going over there? Have you guys found any results yet?

Dae-Sung and Pip look up.

PIP  
I think so? Come over here!

The three of them join the scientists.

DAE-SUNG  
So, our data shows that your cells are rapidly deteriorating due to the fact that you’re in the wrong universe. At this rate, you can probably survive another week here before your body more or less collapses in on itself.

JIMMY  
(worried)  
What?

PIP  
So, I think the best course of action is for you to try and find a way back to your universe. Howeverrrrr, this data is actually amazing, we could probably literally use your DNA and stuff to find a way to safely travel between multiverses without any of-

Angel glitches again.

PIP (CONT’D)  
Exactly this.

DAE-SUNG  
But you should go home, we don’t know how long this will take.

ROWAN  
But we didn’t say you could tell anybody else about any of this.

PIP  
Well, good thing we’re genius enough to do this research on our own, then! Angel, would it be okay if we took some more samples and did another round of tests on you? One can never have enough data.

ANGEL  
Sure, go ahead!

INT. UNDERGROUND STATION - EVENING

After a long afternoon of tests, Jimmy, Angel and Rowan are on their way back to the university. Rowan gets an alert on his phone and looks at it. He starts frowning and taps Jimmy’s arm to get his attention.

ROWAN  
You should take a look at this.

Jimmy and Angel lean over to see what’s happening and Rowan clicks play on a video on his phone. The video depicts a figure in a red and blue-striped bodysuit, stumbling out of a bar. He’s got a mask over his head which is pulled up to his mouth, allowing him to drink from a bottle of Vodka that he’s holding. He shoots a web up at the sky.

FIGURE  
(slurring)  
Whaddup, fuckers, it is I, Spider-Man, here to save you from all your woesssss.

RANDOM PERSON ON THE STREET  
Prove it!

The figure throws the almost empty bottle down and takes off running towards a wall on the other side of the street. He jumps at it and, sticking to it, he manages to crawl up the building. A few drunken pedestrians whoop. The video ends there.

Angel, Jimmy and Rowan look up at each other.

JIMMY  
That voice seemed familiar…

ROWAN  
Is that another one of you?

ANGEL  
It appears so… don’t worry, I’ll handle this. And after that, I think it’s high time we pay some old friends a visit, don’t you? We’ll meet at Notting Hill Gate station.

With that, Angel takes off running out of the station.

ROWAN  
Wait- does she even know where to find him?

JIMMY  
Spidey-senses.

ROWAN  
Oh, right.

EXT. NOTTING HILL GATE STATION - EVENING

As promised, Jimmy and Rowan are waiting for Angel at the top of the stairs leading to a tube station.

ROWAN  
You know, Angel is lucky this station exists in this universe as well.

JIMMY  
I kind of get the impression that you’re not her biggest fan.

ROWAN  
I just don’t like the fact that she’s pulling you into all of this mess.

JIMMY  
But I want to do this, I want to learn how to be Spider-Angel and save the world. If anything this makes things easier, since I don’t have to do this alone.

ROWAN  
You never would have had to do this alone, Jimjam!

They’re interrupted by someone yelling behind them.

VOICE  
Jimmy! Rowan! My old friends!

They turn around and see Angel approaching, propping up a stumbling figure. It’s the guy from the video, but not wearing his mask. They pass under a streetlight and Jimmy and Rowan see that he’s none other than Lisbeth.

ROWAN  
Lisbeth?

ANGEL  
Yeah no, apparently his name is Lister.

LISTER  
Yeaaaaa, I lied about my name, hahaha.

ANGEL  
He’s a mess, I’m sorry.

ROWAN  
So, where are we going?

ANGEL  
Right! Right this way. Lister, are you okay?

Lister has turned very pale. He lurches forward.

INT. BLACK BACKGROUND

Another comic book lands on the previous two, this time with Lister in a good old Spider-Man suit on the cover, slinging webs. The title reads “The Adventures of Spider-Man”.

LISTER (V.O)  
Alright people, let’s start at the beginning one last time.

EXT. BUS STOP - DAY  
Lister, ca. 13 years old is being pushed into a street by a bunch of bullies. A spider crawls onto his hand and bites him.

LISTER (V.O)  
My name is Lister Bird, when I was thirteen I was bitten by a radioactive spider.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT  
We see shots of Lister slingshotting his way through a version of London that looks slightly more cyber-punk than the London from this universe. He launches off a tall building, runs across roofs and through traffic and finally lands back on top of a skyscraper, looking over the city.

LISTER (V.O)  
For the last three years, I have been the man, the myth, the legend, the one and only Spider-Man. You guys know the rest.

INT. BAND ROOM - DAY

Lister is playing the drums, jamming out with his universe’s versions of Jimmy and Rowan.

LISTER (V.O)  
I joined a band…

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Spider-Man throws a bad guy off a building.

LISTER (V.O, CONT’D)  
...saved the city…

EXT. ALLEY - NIGHT

Spider-Man runs into an alley where his new friends, Jimmy and Rowan are lying, dead.

LISTER (V.O, CONT’D)  
I… couldn’t save my best friends, Jimmy and Rowan….

EXT. LONDON - DAY

Spider-Man does various heroic things like stopping a mugging and punching another bad guy.

LISTER (V.O, CONT’D)  
...so now I save everyone else.

Next, we see Lister walk down busy a street, headphones in, hood pulled low. He looks incredibly lonely.

LISTER (V.O)  
And I don’t do friends anymore.

INT. BAR - NIGHT

Lister is drinking alone in a bar, miserable.

LISTER (V.O)  
It only gets you hurt.

EXT. ALLEY - DAY

Spider-Man is in the process of beating another bad guy when suddenly a black hole opens up in the wall behind him and sucks him in.

LISTER (V.O)  
Then one day this really weird thing happened.

EXT. JIMMY’S LONDON - DAY

Another black hole opens in Jimmy and Rowan’s universe, and Lister crashes through, landing in a busy Picadilly street. He stands up and looks around at all the billboards and people.

LISTER (V.O)  
I was blown into last week and landed in London, just… not my London.

EXT. LONDON COLLEGE OF THE ARTS CAMPUS - DAY

Lister steps onto the campus of Jimmy and Rowan’s college.

LISTER (V.O)  
My Spider-sense told me to go to the London College of the Arts.

We see the scene where he runs into Jimmy and Rowan from his perspective, which explains why he was so unnerved and acting so strange.

LISTER (V.O)  
That’s where I ran into the two people I’d have least expected to see, and my life officially turned upside-down.

EXT. IN FRONT OF DOROTHY’S HOUSE - EVENING

Lister’s introductory montage fades out, and we’re back in Notting Hill, in front of Dorothy and Juliet’s fancy large house. Angel shoots a web at the doorbell and it rings.

ANGEL  
This is probably a bad idea…

The door opens, and an annoyed Juliet appears. Dorothy is behind her.

JULIET  
What is it now-

She stops when her gaze lands on Angel.

ANGEL  
Hi, Juliet.

Juliet opens her mouth, then closes it again. She steps towards Angel in wonder.

JULIET  
Fereshteh?

She raises her hand, not quite daring to touch Angel. Dorothy also steps forwards.

ANGEL  
It’s Angel, actually. So this is going to sound mad, but I’m pretty sure I’m from a-

DOROTHY  
From an alternate dimension.

ANGEL  
Yeah!

Dorothy smiles at Angel sadly.

JULIET  
I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say…

Jimmy steps forwards.

JIMMY  
I- I was there. When Spider-Angel… I’m so sorry.

DOROTHY  
What dimension are you from?

JIMMY  
Oh, this one.

Dorothy nods and smiles weakly.

ROWAN  
Um, so, we’re looking for a way to make another key to destroy this huge inter-dimensional travel machine, do you know how to help us?

Juliet looks over at him, a determined look growing on her face.

JULIET  
Follow me.

EXT. GARDEN - NIGHT

The posse, lead by Dorothy and Juliet, walks into Dorothy’s garden, towards a small shed.

LISTER  
Oh yeah, I have one of these too, just a little shed where I keep all my Spider-gear.

Dorothy pushes a key into the lock and turns it. Upon doing that, the lock starts glowing, and light extends around it. The door slides into the ground, and Dorothy and Juliet step forwards onto a platform, motioning for the others to follow. Jimmy, Rowan and Angel do so excitedly while Lister rolls his eyes and trudges inside.

LISTER  
I mean, this place is pretentious.

INT. SECRET LAIR - NIGHT

The platform they’re all on descends through a dark room. As they go down, various platforms with different superhero gadgets on them light up.

JIMMY  
Whoa.

ROWAN  
(to Lister)  
Is your place like this?

LISTER  
Pffft, no! My place actually has a couch. I feel sad for this girl.

DOROTHY  
Oh, we have a rec room over there through that door, there’s several couches in it.

LISTER  
…Alright, then.

They land on the ground and look around the room in awe. They’re surrounded by display cases with various designs of Spider-Angel suits in them.

Jimmy goes up to the one that has her normal outfit in it and stares at it. His reflection in the glass around the suit makes it look as though he’s trying to fill the suit up, but can’t quite manage to. Yet.

Rowan and Angel walk over to a board. On it are pictures of Mac and his lackeys, surrounded by post-it notes and strings connecting all of them.

DOROTHY  
We all used to be friends with Mac, actually, so Fereshteh knew how dangerous it was to go after him alone. But she also figured that the only one who could stop him was Spider-Angel.

JIMMY  
What exactly happened with Mac then? Spider-Angel actually mentioned something about Juliet not taking him back…

Juliet snorts in that pathetic way.

JULIET  
Yeah, we kind of used to have a thing, Mac and I.

ANGEL  
You and Mac? For real?

JULIET  
It’s not like I’m proud of it. He was always kind of shit in general, but I naively thought he was different from all the other money-hungry CEOs. But then I found out that he was not only exploiting his workers and the like, he was also full-on trying to bring Fereshteh down. So naturally, I broke up with him and he threw a huge hissy-fit, trying everything he could to get me back except for actually becoming a decent person. Eventually, he decided to start planning this huge project for a machine that would allow for travel through the multiverse, which would on one hand make him even richer and on the other hand allow him to pull out a version of me from a parallel universe that didn’t hate him. So yeah, what’s your awful ex story?

ANGEL  
(baffled)  
Fuck, that's awful, I'm sorry.

Juliet presses her lips together.

JULIET  
Yeah, thanks.

JIMMY  
God, we still need to get the key back and defeat Mac. We’re going to be so outnumbered…

DOROTHY  
(grinning)  
I wouldn’t be too sure about that.

Suddenly, Jimmy, Angel and Lister’s Spidey-senses start acting up again. They look up at the ceiling to see two figures hanging there.

DOROTHY  
You’re not the only people who thought to come here.

The figures release Spider-webs, swing down onto the ground and step into the light. They’re two girls. The first one has long black hair and is wearing a black bodysuit with white sleeves and a white hood. Around her wrist is a futuristic-looking smartwatch. The other girl is an exact mirror of Juliet, except younger, wearing a bodysuit that looks a bit more like a 70s disco outfit. It's orange with a purple spider-web pattern all over it.

The five Spider-people plus Rowan all stare at each other, their Spider-senses still tingling. The dark-haired girl speaks first.

GIRL  
Well, isn't this a fancy gathering!

Lister sways on his feet and passes out, cold.

CUT TO BLACK


	5. Bliss and Lister’s fantubular twelve-step plan to getting the key back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a heist is perfectly executed. Ish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time for the crew to have some fun methinks.

INT. BLACK BACKGROUND

Two comic books fall onto the other comics. One of them has the dark-haired girl on it, swinging through a very futuristic version of London, the words “Spider-Lai” above it. The other one has the disco girl on it, wearing roller skates and an orange mask. Above her are the words “Spider-Woman: 1975”.

SPIDER-LAI (V.O)  
My name is Bliss Lai.

SPIDER-WOMAN (V.O)  
My name is Juliet Schwartz.

EXT. STREETS - DAY

The screen is split. On one side we see Bliss, on the other side Juliet, both getting bitten by Spiders.

BLISS & JULIET (V.O)  
I was bitten by a radioactive spider.

EXT. LONDON STREETS IN THE 70s - DAY

Juliet, as Spider-Woman, is sometimes skating, sometimes swinging through a very colourful, disco-esque version of London.

JULIET  
In my universe, it’s 1975, and I’m the one and only Spider-Woman, saving the city one dance number at a time.

EXT. LUNDOWN STREETS - NIGHT

Bliss, as Spider-Lai, is swinging through a futuristic dystopian version of London, filled with holographic billboards full of propaganda and advertising. She lands in a rather slum-ish part of the town.

BLISS (V.O)  
I’m from Lundown in the year 2237, and I’m the one and only Spider-Lai, a member of an underground rebel group delivering vigilante justice to a city corrupted by the rich and powerful.

INT. DANCE STAGE - DAY

Spider-Woman is fighting off a few bad guys, backstage, while on stage an epic 70s dance show is being put on.

JULIET (V.O)  
This one day I was fighting off a few baddies who were trying to ruin this big dance show I had spent months preparing when suddenly a strange black hole sucked me in.

Behind her, a black hole appears, and she’s sucked through.

INT. SKYSCRAPER OFFICE - NIGHT

Spider-Lai jumps into an office that probably belongs to some rich CEO and tiptoes over to a monitor. Suddenly a black hole opens up under her, too.

BLISS (V.O)  
Yeah, the same thing happened to me when I was just about to find my way into a villain’s credit account to redistribute his wealth.

INT. THE SECRET LAIR’S REC ROOM - NIGHT

The whole crew has gathered in the rec room, which is filled with TVs, couches, armchairs, a kitchen, a ping-pong table, some instruments, and more. Lister is passed out cold on one of the couches while the rest of them sit in a circle, listening to Bliss and Juliet’s stories.

BLISS  
So then my Spidey-tingle told me to find this place...

JULIET  
And now we’re both here, just trying to find a way back home.

BLISS  
The problem is, the only way home is through that collider thingy. And well…

JULIET  
One of us will have to stay behind to destroy it.

JIMMY  
Well-

ANGEL  
Yeah, I think we can deal with that once we actually get a new key. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there are two Juliets in this room right now.

OLDER JULIET  
Yeah, trust me, so are we. I guess you can just call me Julie for now, it’ll make things less confusing.

ROWAN  
To think that one week ago our lives were still normal.

BLISS  
No time to dwell. Also, we used to fuck.

ROWAN  
(spluttering)  
What?

BLISS  
Well, a parallel universe version of you and me.

ANGEL  
That’s a great line, I’d use it if I wasn’t aro-ace.

Bliss and Angel grin at each other.

DOROTHY  
I think it is high time for all of you to go to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

FRIDAY

INT. SECRET LAIR REC ROOM - DAY

The next morning, Angel is awake before the others. While Jimmy, Rowan, Lister, Juliet and Bliss continue snoozing on the couches, she goes to the kitchen to make herself some coffee. A little while later, Juliet wakes up too and walks up behind Angel. Angel turns around, notices her and jumps.

ANGEL  
Oh, hi! Sorry!

Juliet smiles awkwardly.

JULIET  
Hey.

She goes to the coffee machine and frowns at it.

JULIET  
Um, how do you-

ANGEL  
Oh yeah, let me help you.

She joins Juliet by the coffee machine and shows her how to work it.

JULIET  
Thank you.

ANGEL  
No stress, haha.

JULIET  
Yeah, in my universe these machines are way less complicated.

ANGEL  
Hah, I can imagine.

They stand in awkward silence until Juliet’s cup is full and she takes it, slowly sipping on it.

ANGEL  
So… I imagine it's probably quite strange to hang out with an older version of you…

JULIET  
Yeah, definitely. Like, is this the woman I’m going to grow up to be? I don’t know.

ANGEL  
But you’re probably still quite different people, just because you grew up very differently. I mean, I can already tell both of you are different from my Juliet, too. I'm saying "different" a lot...

JULIET  
You have a Juliet in your universe?

ANGEL  
Yeah, she’s - was - my best friend there…

JULIET  
What happened?

ANGEL  
Oh, well, we had kind of a huge fight recently. Like, I-moved-out-of-our-flat huge.

JULIET  
Can I ask about what?

ANGEL  
Oh, you know… I don’t know, she said she felt like all I ever did and talked about was my life as Spider-Angel and I didn’t prioritise our friendship, and I mean, I do feel really bad now, like, her parents full-on kicked her out and I only found out months after it happened, simply because I was just constantly talking about my latest superhero gig or how I’d improve my social media presence and stuff… But I mean, being Spider-Angel is literally the only thing I’m actually good at, my life is just… mediocre otherwise. I don’t know. And yeah, I think the last straw was when I did a brand deal with a company that I didn’t know was reeeeally homophobic and then did this apology video where I just said some completely stupid shit, trying to defend myself, and I just ended up digging myself deeper into a hole and spent all my free time on social media, and Juliet just decided to kick me out until I got my shit together and got some distance from my Spider-Angel life. Anyway. Yeah. Sorry, I’m rambling, didn’t mean to just dump that all on you. And I promise I do not support that brand in any way, shape or form. I was genuinely sorry, even if it didn't come across that way.

JULIET  
No, it’s okay. I mean, I actually relate to your Juliet, my parents also kicked me out because they didn’t approve of my dreams to become a theatre set designer. If they saw me rocking these outfits, they’d probably have an aneurism.

They both chuckle.

ANGEL  
How do you do it? Have such a fulfilling life outside being Spider-Woman?

JULIET  
Well, it can be very hard to balance those two sides of me. But I think it’s easiest to just completely separate myself from Spider-Woman. So, as soon as I’m done doing superhero stuff, I take off my costume and pretend I’m just like any other citizen who doesn’t know who Spider-Woman is. That way, I can also really focus on my hobbies, friendships and career.

ANGEL  
That sounds very responsible of you, Juliet.

JULIET  
Haha, yeah, I try.

They smile at each other.

ANGEL  
Well, I guess as soon as this whole ordeal is over, I’ll have to get my shit together. Thanks for the advice, Juliet.

JULIET  
You’re very welcome.

Bliss appears next to them, opens the fridge and takes out a bottle of milk.

BLISS  
Good morning, sunshines! Who’s getting their shit together?

She takes a glass from a shelf and fills the milk into it.

JULIET  
Angel is.

BLISS  
Very admirable, I support.

She toasts at the two and downs her milk.

ANGEL  
Why are you drinking milk on its own, who does that?

BLISS  
You know, where I’m from, milk is actually a very rare delicacy, so cut me some slack. Also, it’s fucking delish.

The others all slowly start stirring awake. Lister comes over to the girls and starts opening various cupboards and drawers, rummaging through them. He kind of looks like shit, which we can safely assume is due to the giant hangover he’s probably nursing.

BLISS  
Ah, the Sleeping Cutie finally awakens.

Lister grunts.

LISTER  
Huh, Sleeping Cutie? Wait, do you mean Snoozing Beauty?

ANGEL  
Your universes worry me.

BLISS  
I take it back, Sleeping Cutie is not the best word to describe you. You look like shit.

LISTER  
Thanks, mate.

He closes another cabinet.

LISTER  
Is there nothing decent to drink here?

JULIET  
There’s water or coffee?

BLISS  
Or milk.

LISTER  
Yeah, that’s not what I meant.

ANGEL  
Well, I don’t think having alcohol in a superhero’s secret lair is the thing we do here, so you’ll just have to deal.

LISTER  
Ugh.

The door to the rec room opens, and Dorothy and Julie step in. Julie is holding a big bowl full of steaming scones.

DOROTHY  
Good morning! We have breakfast!

INT. SECRET LAIR’S REC ROOM - DAY

The crew is sitting in a circle in the rec room, having finished breakfast. Angel stands up in front of them and claps her hands.

ANGEL  
Well, I say it’s high time we start planning our next steps. Most of us need to get back home before we disintegrate and we still don’t have the key to destroy the collider.

DOROTHY  
The first time around, Fereshteh got the data by breaking into Anderson Industries and hacking into a computer to load it onto the key.

JIMMY  
So, does that mean we have to pull off a heist of sorts?

LISTER  
Heists! Yes! I’ve always wanted to be part of a heist! Like River’s Ten, you know.

BLISS  
Sameeeee.

ROWAN  
Don’t you mean Lake’s Fourteen?

ANGEL  
What are these universes even?

LISTER  
Anyway, I think the first step is to create the perfect soundtrack. Do you have lineify here?

ROWAN  
Let’s maybe not-

BLISS  
Pffft, shut it, Rowan. Lister, come over here, we’ll show these bitches how a true heist is done.

Bliss stands up, types a few commands into her high-tech smartwatch and flicks her wrist. A holograph appears a few feet behind her and Lister, who has joined her side. On it, big letters proclaim that this is “Bliss and Lister’s fantubular twelve-step plan to getting the key back and absolutely destroying Mac and co.”

LISTER  
Damn, how did you do that?

BLISS  
Oh, this hologram is synced with my brainwaves, so I can just think about whatever I want to appear on it and it will. It’s quite outdated tech where I come from actually.

LISTER  
Wicked!

Bliss winks and then changes the slide. The hologram now reads “Step 1: soundtrack”.

BLISS  
First, I will cook up some earpieces and sync them with a good soundtrack that will turn us up.

LISTER  
Woo!

Bliss changes the presentation again; it now reads “Step 2: jobs”. Beneath it is a blueprint of Anderson Industries headquarters.

BLISS  
All of us Spider-people will heist our way inside, Julie and Dorothy will be lookout on both entrances, Rowan, your job is to look cute. Also, you’ll be driving the getaway hover-car.

LISTER  
We only have normal cars here.

BLISS  
Rowan, you will be driving the getaway normal car. Fuck, this place is backwards.

ROWAN  
(flustered)  
Um, okay. I can’t actually drive, though.

BLISS  
Alright, change of plans, Rowan is lookout and Dorothy is driving. Anyway, Lister, hit us with step three, please.

LISTER  
Step three is the entrance.

The presentation changes accordingly.

LISTER  
I say we go in through the vents.

BLISS  
You heard him.

The presentation shows a detailed description of the vents system.

BLISS  
Step four, we crawl along the vents.

LISTER  
Step five, we reach a crossroads in the vents and split up to cover more ground.

ROWAN  
(to Jimmy)  
Well, now they’re just reaching.

BLISS  
Step six, Jimmy and Lister find the security room and disable the cameras, while, step seven, us girls head for the head scientist’s lab.

Lister quickly glances at Jimmy, his face unreadable.

LISTER  
Fine, I guess. Step eight, we disable the security cameras.

BLISS  
I already said that.

LISTER  
Oh yeah.

JIMMY  
How exactly are we supposed to disable the security cameras?

LISTER  
The Spidey way. With webs, willpower and a lot of dumb luck.

Jimmy frowns.

BLISS  
Ayyyy. Step nine, I use my gadgets to hack into the scientist’s computer while Angel and Juliet keep watch and fight off anybody in our way, step ten, I download the important stuff, I'll know it when I see it, step eleven, I give a sign and Jimmy and Lister set off an alarm so that we can all escape in blazing glory, and finally, Lister…

LISTER  
Step twelve, we each grab a bagel from the cafe and run.

BLISS  
Yes!

ANGEL  
Woo!

She and Juliet clap at the presentation. Rowan frowns and Jimmy looks worried.

INT. DOROTHY’S CAR - EVENING

The entire crew is squeezed into a five-seat car, on their way to Anderson Industries HQ. Dorothy is driving with Julie in the passenger seat. Behind them, Bliss, Juliet, Angel and Lister are sitting next to each other in a probably rather illegal move. It gets even more illegal in the trunk, where Rowan and Jimmy are lying next to each other, curled up.

JULIET  
Are we sure this is the only way we can travel?

ANGEL  
I’d honestly have thought that this Spider-Angel’s sidekicks would have a car that’s more on the level of that underground lair if I’m completely honest. No offence.

DOROTHY  
Well, so far I've never had to lug seven people around.

JULIE  
Plus, we haven’t whipped out the laser cannons hidden behind the taillights yet.

ANGEL  
Laser cannons? For real? No, you’re joking.

Julie winks mysteriously.

ANGEL  
Yeah, yeah, there’s no way.

As the others chat on, we switch over to see Jimmy and Rowan in the trunk, speaking to each other in low voices.

ROWAN  
I never got the chance to ask how you’re feeling about all of this, Jim.

JIMMY  
I don’t know. This is all so surreal. But I guess I do feel better with so many Spider-people to help.

Rowan smiles.

ROWAN  
Yeah, me too quite honestly.

JIMMY  
You know, sometimes I get the feeling you worry about me more than about yourself.

ROWAN  
Hey, I take my responsibilities as the mum friend very seriously.

JIMMY  
(grinning)  
Yeah, I’ve noticed.

The voices from the front carry back to the two.

LISTER  
I bet Bliss has a very - what was the word - fantubular car.

BLISS  
Are you telling me you don’t have the word fantubular? What kind of backwards universe is this?

JIMMY  
You know, Rowan has probably used that word before, he always comes up with those kinds of things. Maybe you two could, you know… bond over that.

Rowan smacks Jimmy and gives him a “what the fuck???” look. Jimmy grins at him and wiggles his eyebrows.

EXT. IN FRONT OF ANDERSON INDUSTRIES HQ - EVENING

The crew is in position in front of a big, modern-looking lab surrounded by a forest, ready to go in. Bliss is handing out earpieces to everyone.

BLISS  
Any last song requests?

ROWAN  
Wait, you were serious about that?

BLISS  
I’m always serious, babe. Anyway, let’s go, follow me.

She shoots a web to the roof of the building and swings herself up. Juliet and Lister follow. Angel stays behind with Jimmy.

ANGEL  
Do you want me to carry you up there?

JIMMY  
Would you do that?

ANGEL  
Sure thing, mate. Hop in.

She spreads her arms. Jimmy steps towards her, and she picks him up.

ROWAN  
Don’t die up there!

ANGEL  
We’ll try not to!

JIMMY  
Bye, Ro!

Angel shoots a web and follows the others onto the roof.

EXT. ROOFTOP - EVENING

Jimmy and Angel join the other Spider-people on the roof. Lister and Bliss have already opened up a way into the air vents system.

BLISS  
Everybody remember the plan?

JIMMY  
Not perfectly.

BLISS  
Fantub, that’s the Spidey way. After me!

She jumps into the vents. Juliet and Angel follow her. Lister motions for Jimmy to go first. He takes a deep breath and drops in after them.

INT. AIR VENTS - EVENING

Luckily the drop isn’t too far, so Jimmy doesn’t have to rely on his powers. Yet. The girls have already crawled a bit further along, and Jimmy follows them, Lister not too far behind. Some epic heisty rock piece is blaring through their earpieces as the screen splits, showing...

EXT. IN FRONT OF ANDERSON INDUSTRIES HQ - EVENING

Rowan is on the lookout a safe distance away from the front entrance. Suddenly he notices an expensive-looking car drive up. Mac steps out.

INT. AIR VENTS - EVENING

The Spideys are still crawling. Their earpieces cackle.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Heads-up, Mac just arrived in front of the building.

BLISS  
Fuck. I don’t suppose you can distract him for a while?

ROWAN (O.S)  
I doubt it, he just went inside.

They’ve reached the place where their paths must diverge. Bliss motions for the girls to go down one way and the boys down the other. They split up.

BLISS  
Okay, we’ll be quick, we’re almost at the lab.

She looks at a small holographic display hovering over her watch. It indicates that they’ve reached their destination. Bliss and Juliet, who’s right behind her, pry open the air vent cover. The three of them drop down into a dark room.

INT. RANDOM ROOM - EVENING

For a few seconds, the three of them are shrouded in complete darkness, then Angel flips a light switch and they finally see where they’ve landed. It’s not a lab. It’s a completely empty room.

BLISS  
What the-

JULIET  
Uh, Bliss? I hate to state the obvious, but this does not look like where we’re supposed to be.

Bliss frowns and taps away at her watch.

BLISS  
This doesn’t make any sense… according to the schematics we’re supposed to be right in Dr. Last’s lab…

The three of them look at each other, frowning.

INT. AIR VENTS - EVENING

Lister and Jimmy arrive where the security room is supposed to be. However, through the grate leading into the room, they see what looks like a sleek lab with shiny, semi see-through walls instead. Lister crawls up next to Jimmy and the two of them are pressed against each other, staring down into the room.

JIMMY  
Fuck, I think we’re in the wrong place.

LISTER  
Oops.

Their earpieces cackle.

BLISS (O.S)  
So, slight problem, the schematics were wrong, we don’t know where the lab is.

LISTER  
Well, it appears that the two of us are actually above a lab right now.

BLISS (O.S)  
Cool, okay. Do you have any way to hack into the system?

The door to the lab opens suddenly and Mac steps through, accompanied by an older blonde woman in a lab coat.

MAC  
Alright, Carol, what’s our status?

CAROL  
Well, the numbers we’ve run so far are cause for some concern…

She sits down at a computer and types in a password. Jimmy and Lister can see the computer screen reflected on the wall, and consequently can make out which symbols are being typed in.

LISTER  
To answer your question, Bliss, I’ve got the password.

BLISS (O.S)  
Perfect, you have ten minutes until we set off an alarm, can you manage that?

LISTER  
No problemo.

INT. RANDOM ROOM - EVENING

Bliss turns back to the girls.

BLISS  
Alright, let’s go kick some asses.

INT. AIR VENTS - EVENING

CAROL  
If we reopen the portal this month already, there could be a black hole underneath London. I know you don’t understand these numbers…

She shows him the screen, which is filled with some mathematical mumbo-jumbo.

CAROL (CONT’D)  
…but this is multiple dimensions crashing into each other.

LISTER  
(whispering)  
This is pretty standard Spidey stakes. You get used to it. Now he’ll say “you have five days”.

MAC  
You have five days.

LISTER  
Called it.

Mac walks towards the room’s exit, Carol following.

CAROL  
Sir, there could be a rupture in the space-time continuum!

LISTER  
Oof, that’s no good. I mean, none of this is good, really. We’re not even supposed to be here.

JIMMY  
Yeah, doesn’t sound that way.

LISTER  
Never mind, these missions usually end in an improvised exit. I’m going in.

Lister removes the grate, slips through the hole, crawls along the ceiling and gracefully drops down in front of the computer. He begins clicking away. Jimmy follows, about 90% less graceful. He sticks to the ceiling and can’t get off.

LISTER  
What are you doing?

JIMMY  
(panicking)  
I don’t know, I can’t move!

LISTER  
Okay, just don’t panic, relax your fingers, be in the moment.

JIMMY  
Well, now I’m going to do the exact opposite of that!

He shakes back and forth and up and down on the ceiling, trying to get off.

INT. HALLWAY - EVENING

Outside the room, his wobbly outline can be seen through the slightly see-through walls. Carol and Mac are standing there, talking to each other. Luckily, they haven’t noticed Jimmy yet.

CAROL  
I just need more time!

MAC  
No more excuses, Doctor.

INT. LAB - EVENING

LISTER  
Okay, um, fuck, they’re gonna see you! Uh, have I told you about the time I accidentally stabbed myself?

JIMMY  
What?

Momentarily distracted, Jimmy’s hands suddenly unstick from the ceiling and he comes crashing down. Lister winces.

INT. HALLWAY - EVENING

Outside, Carol has heard the noise of the crash and turns around.

INT. A DIFFERENT HALLWAY - EVENING

Bliss, Angel and Juliet are sneaking along, trying to find the lab, when they run into three guards. They notice the girls and immediately draw their weapons.

GUARD 1  
Oi, what are you doing here?

The Spideys waste no time on introductions. They each launch into one of the guards.

Angel shoots a web up at the ceiling and swings over to her guard, landing on top of him. She shoots another few webs at his hands, feet and mouth that fasten him to the ground, giving him no hope of escape.

Meanwhile, Bliss and the second guard are focused on each other. He shoots at her and she jumps a few steps back to buy herself some time, tapping a command into her watch. She then shoots an electrically charged web back at him, which catches him in the face and knocks him unconscious.

She finishes just in time to see Juliet walk along the walls, jumping back and forth from one to another. She’s holding a long string of web that she’s tightly wrapping around the third guard to the point where he’s almost completely mummified. Bliss looks very impressed and slightly in love. When Juliet finishes, she jumps down next to the other girls and winks.

JULIET  
I have to say, that was quite thrilling.

BLISS  
Yup, love what you’ve done to the guys.

Bliss steps over to one of the guards and grabs a pad that he was holding. She pulls a small device out of one of her pockets and sticks it to the top of it.

BLISS  
Fantubular.

INT. LAB - EVENING

Lister stands up from the desk and looks around confused. Jimmy has disappeared.

LISTER  
Jimmy, where are you?

JIMMY  
I’m right here!

Jimmy, or more specifically the slightly warped space around Jimmy that we see in order to visualise where he is, looks at his hands and notices his invisibility.

JIMMY  
Wait, is turning invisible a Spider-Angel power?

LISTER  
Not where I’m from. This is spooky.

Lister has walked up to where he correctly guesses Jimmy is and pokes him once. Jimmy turns visible again.

LISTER  
Spooky. Probably something to do with fight-or-flight...

He then notices Carol’s silhouette through the walls, moving towards the doors.

LISTER  
Shit, she’s coming, I’ll distract her, you go load the data onto this flash-drive, the password is D-g-f-a-m-p-e-s-a-n-d-4-£-3-2-5-4-7-4-5-3-5.

JIMMY  
Wait, what?

LISTER  
No time!

Carol steps into the lab and notices the strange man in an off-brand red and blue Spider-Angel outfit leaning against a table as if he belongs there.

CAROL  
Who are you?

LISTER  
Why, don’t you know me? I’m Spider-Man!

He casually shoots a web at the ceiling. Carol’s expression turns to one of wonder and interest.

CAROL  
Fascinating! So I’m assuming you’re from a different universe?

While they chat, Jimmy is typing the password into the computer. He gets stuck on the last two numbers and turns the computer around so that Lister gets the hint. He does.

LISTER  
Yep. So, can I ask how old you are? You don’t look a day over 35.

Jimmy types in the last two numbers and the computer unlocks, revealing a clean desktop. There's literally nothing on it that could indicate which data he has to download.

CAROL  
No time for flattery, sit down.

With almost inhuman strength, she pushes him onto a rather scary-looking chair, with straps on the armrests that automatically fasten around his wrists.

LISTER  
Ow, what the hell?

CAROL  
Just need to take some samples.

She extracts some of his blood and puts a sample under a microscope. Meanwhile, Jimmy clicks various commands into the computer, to no avail.

CAROL  
Wow, fascinating, complete cellular decay…

While she’s distracted, Jimmy has opted to just grab the computer and its hard drive from the desk and starts lugging it towards the exit. Lister notices.

LISTER  
(hissing)  
Jimmy!

Jimmy puts down the electronics and rushes over to Lister with the intent of getting him out of his straps. Carol turns around before he can do anything.

CAROL  
I’m assuming you’ve been glitching.

LISTER  
Glitching? Nah.

He glitches.

CAROL  
You stay in this dimension to long and your body will disintegrate. You’ll be in unimaginable pain. And I, for one, can’t wait to watch.

She smiles in a very evil way. Just then, loud alarms start blaring. Jimmy jumps at that and turns visible again. This catches Carol off guard. Jimmy quickly reacts and with immense strength punches one of the straps around Lister’s wrists. It falls off. Lister pries away the second strap, and the two of them take off towards the exit. On the way out, Jimmy picks up the computer.

CAROL  
Oh no, you don’t.

She throws off her lab coat, revealing a green bodysuit beneath. From behind her back, six large, tentacle-like tubes with sharp edges extend and curl around her. She runs after the two.

INT. HALLWAY - EVENING

Lister and Jimmy sprint along the hallways, Carol hot on their tails. Sirens are blaring around them, and the corridors are filled with slightly confused guards.

CAROL  
Catch those two Spider-People!

Jimmy, whose predicament has just worsened tenfold, flashes in and out of invisibility as they run along, just barely dodging rubber bullets. He and Lister turn into another corridor and bump into Angel, Bliss and Juliet.

ANGEL  
Oh good, you guys are here! Let’s go!

The whole crew starts running again, pure adrenaline.

JIMMY  
There are about thirty guards and one very murderous octopus lady running after us!

BLISS  
Ah, great, just an average day in the life of a Spidey.

JIMMY  
You say that a lot, it's worrying!

Bliss shoots a large, strong web that manages to block off the hallway behind them and buy them some time as several guards crash into it. Carol’s tentacles brush the guards out of the way, and her tentacles cut through the webbing. The crew has gained some ground, though.

JULIET  
How are you turning invisible, Jimmy? Never mind, no time.

They’ve reached the end of the hallway and burst into a room.

INT. CAFETERIA - EVENING

The cafeteria is filled with scientists. They don’t notice the five weirdly dressed Spider-People yet.

LISTER  
Alright, now’s a good time to turn invisible!

JIMMY  
Yup.

But he can’t.

LISTER  
Okay, never mind, Juliet can you grab some of those bagels over there?

Juliet takes one and tosses it over to Lister. The five of them casually start walking through the room towards the other end, where a large window opens up onto a balcony. Several scientists start noticing them, though, and whispers of confusion and “Spider-Angel?” can be heard throughout the room. When they’re about a third of the way through, Carol opens the door behind them.

CAROL  
That’s Spider-Angel, don’t let them escape!

The scientists all immediately pull out weapons and train them on the Spider-People.

ANGEL  
Run!

They take off towards the balcony and burst through while an angry mob of scientists run after them, weapons blazing.

EXT. OUTSIDE OF ANDERSON INDUSTRIES HQ - EVENING

LISTER  
Jimmy, give me the hard drive!

Jimmy tosses him the electronics. They’ve almost reached the edge of the balcony by now.

ANGEL  
Jimmy, do you think you can do this? Just remember what I taught you. Steady breathing!

Angel, Lister, Bliss and Juliet jump off the ledge one-by-one Jimmy hesitates, looking behind him. The scientists, led by Carol, are approaching, still shooting at them.

ANGEL  
Come on, Jimmy!

But it’s too late for Jimmy to jump. Carol has grabbed him with one of her tentacles. Angel looks behind at them.

ANGEL  
Fuck!

She swerves and swings herself back to the balcony. She aims and shoots a web right into Carol’s eye. Carol’s grip weakens.

CAROL  
Ow!

Angel manages to grab Jimmy, and together the two of them swing off the balcony, right into the trunk of Dorothy’s car, which drives off and leaves the headquarters behind.

CUT TO BLACK


	6. A leap of faith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimmy climbs a tower.

INT. THE SECRET LAIR’S REC ROOM - EVENING

The crew has made it back to Spider-Angel's lair. Bliss, Rowan, Angel and Julie are hunched over the computer that Jimmy stole, trying to figure out how to hack into it.

BLISS  
Fuck me, the firewalls on these documents are heavy...

ROWAN  
Can’t you use one of your gadgets to get through?

BLISS  
Well, just because I have more advanced technology than you lot doesn’t mean I’m some professional hacker or something, one of my friends usually does all of that. I can try setting up something that will hack through these firewalls, but it’ll probably take two or three days. Do we have that kind of time?

ANGEL  
It should be fine, yeah!

LISTER  
(from across the room)  
Mac said the standard “you have five days” to Carol, so I think we’re safe!

BLISS  
Ah yeah, the standard “you have five days”. Heard that one before. Alright then, I’ll try to set up a sync. The rest of you, I don’t know, you can sleep now.

Rowan, Julie and Angel leave Bliss to her thing. Rowan and Angel walk over to Jimmy, who is sitting on a sofa, curled up.

ROWAN  
Heyo, Jimjam. You okay?

JIMMY  
Not really, no.

ANGEL  
Is this about what happened on the balcony back there?

Jimmy nods.

JIMMY  
I just… I froze! And I couldn’t do anything and I don’t know how I can be Spider-Angel when I can’t even stop panicking long enough to save myself.

ROWAN  
You really don’t have to be Spider-Angel, Jimmy. It doesn’t have to be your responsibility.

JIMMY  
But I want to! I want to be a hero and save the world, I want to keep my promise to Fereshteh, I just don’t know how I can be cut out for this.

ANGEL  
You know, it’s normal for this kind of stuff to happen at first. You’ve suddenly been thrust into a wholly new situation, nobody expects you to get everything right on the first try. When I first came into my powers, I once accidentally almost kidnapped this musician I was a big fan of. Well, I saved him and then we ended up swinging all the way to his home town even though he had important stuff to do that day, but everyone framed it as a kidnapping.

Jimmy and Rowan look at her, baffled.

ROWAN  
That's- I can’t tell if I want to know more or not.

Angel shrugs.

JIMMY  
But you never had four Spider-People to teach you stuff…

ANGEL  
Don’t say that, everybody needs practice, and I’m sure you’ll be untouchable in no time.

Rowan takes Jimmy’s hand.

ROWAN  
We’re all here for you, Jimmy. And you haven't kidnapped anyone yet, so you're already doing better than some of us.

Jimmy snorts and nods. He buries his head in Rowan’s shoulder.

SATURDAY

INT. THE SECRET LAIR’S REC ROOM - NIGHT

The whole crew is sleeping in the rec room again, except for Jimmy, who is having another night of insomnia, tossing and turning on the sofa-bed where he’s lying next to Rowan. Giving up on trying to sleep, he stands up, pulls on his off-brand Spider-Angel costume and tiptoes out of the room. As he passes the couch where Lister is lying, we notice that he, too, is awake. He spots Jimmy exit the room and sits up.

INT. SECRET LAIR - NIGHT

Lister sneaks out after Jimmy. As he steps through the door from the rec room to the main room of the secret lair, he just spots Jimmy on the elevator platform, halfway up to the exit.

EXT. ON TOP OF THE SHARD - NIGHT

Jimmy has made it to the top of a skyscraper. He sits at the edge, legs pulled up to his chest, watching the sparkling city below him. Next to him, Lister appears and sits down.

LISTER  
Fancy seeing you here.

Jimmy looks over at Lister for a moment, then back at the city.

JIMMY  
Yeah, you too.

LISTER  
And what brings you to the top of a skyscraper at two in the morning?

JIMMY  
I honestly have no clue. I couldn’t sleep because of anxiety and now I’m on top of the Shard with no memory of how I got here.

LISTER  
Oof, that sucks.

JIMMY  
It really does.

LISTER  
You know that it isn’t a sign of failure that you froze up back at Anderson Industries, right? We’ve all been there.

JIMMY  
Yeah, but I don’t have time to be anything less than perfect.

LISTER  
I’m sorry.

Jimmy shrugs.

JIMMY  
I’m missing Fresher’s Week for this.

LISTER  
Yeah. That's not ideal.

JIMMY  
It’s fine. By next week we’ll either all be dead or I can safely start the semester. Haha! Nice thought of the day. Anyway, what about you, what are you doing up here at two in the morning? Wild night out partying?

LISTER  
Nah. I also couldn’t sleep, and then I saw you leave and, well, to be honest, I sort of followed you. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.

JIMMY  
You know I’m not… fragile.

LISTER  
I know, I’m sorry.

JIMMY  
Iss fine.

LISTER  
You know… I actually haven’t been drinking today.

Jimmy looks at Lister and smiles.

JIMMY  
That’s great! So I can finally witness sober Lister!

LISTER  
Yeah, haha. Nah, back in my universe I have this… I don’t know what to call her, my manager? The Dorothy to my Spider-Angel? You know. Anyway, her name is Cecily, and she always forbids me from drinking before a big job. I guess her lessons stuck, I haven’t been sober this long in ages. Honestly, you should applaud me.

JIMMY  
Bravo, bravo, excellent job, Mr. Spider-Man.

LISTER  
Thank you, thank you.

They both laugh.

JIMMY  
So you drink a lot?

Lister’s face takes on a guarded expression again.

LISTER  
I mean, we all have our ways of dealing with the stress and the shittyness of life, right? You, for example, climb up a skyscraper.

Lister lets out a strained laugh. Jimmy looks at him for an extended moment, then decides to let it go, and they both go back to watching the skyline for a while.

JIMMY  
I- I have a question.

LISTER  
Yeah?

JIMMY  
I need you to promise that you won’t take this the wrong way. I usually wouldn’t be this blunt, but it’s past midnight and we just broke into a high-security lab, so nothing about any of this is normal.

LISTER  
Hit me.

JIMMY  
Do you… not like me?

Lister looks taken aback.

LISTER  
Why would I not like you?

JIMMY  
I don’t know, you just didn’t seem that happy when Bliss said you and I would go to the security room together and you’ve generally been kind of weird… is it because I’m not… your Jimmy?

Lister flinches.

JIMMY  
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s just-

LISTER  
Fuck, no, I’m so sorry that I came off that way. I mean, yeah, it has been really hard to just... see my two dead friends in the flesh again. It brings back a lot of grief that I thought I was over, you know?

JIMMY  
I’m so sorry, Lister…

Lister smiles weakly.

LISTER  
Thanks.

JIMMY  
Do you… do you want to talk about it? Maybe it’ll help process your feelings. My old therapist did the same with me after my grandma died…

Lister considers that for a moment, many mixed emotions crossing his face.

LISTER  
Okay, maybe… maybe that could work.

Jimmy looks at him attentively while he gathers his thoughts.

LISTER  
Well, I met the Jimmy and Rowan from my universe when I was thirteen. They wanted me to be a part of their band, and I guess at first I was kind of suspicious since no one had ever wanted to be my friend, but I came around eventually and well… it was really good, you know, to finally be part of something, to have people who care about you… so yeah, we did a lot of jamming and just hanging out for a few months, until I got bitten by the spider. After that things got really rocky between us because I was busy doing Spider-Man things, like, this supervillain called Dave showed up, and I was the only one who could fight him off, but Rowan and Jimmy obviously didn’t know that, they just thought I was slacking, forgetting them, you know? And then Dave found out that I was Spider-Man, so he ended up kidnapping Jimmy and Rowan, and I was- I was too late.

Tears have started forming in his eyes. He wipes them away.

LISTER  
I couldn’t save them.

Jimmy tentatively puts a hand on Lister’s back and rubs it soothingly. Lister takes a few moments to collect himself.

LISTER  
Yeah, anyway, sorry for being such a mess.

JIMMY  
Hey, no, you don’t need to apologise.

Lister smiles through his tears.

LISTER  
Thank you. For being here.

JIMMY  
It’s no problem at all. I’m… I’m sorry that we’ve been such a painful reminder.

LISTER  
I mean, yeah, at first maybe, but I’ve come to realise that you’re not the same people, even if you look the same. You and the Jimmy from my universe have had very different lives which have shaped you in very different ways. I mean, for one, you never met me.

He says that last bit with a playful smirk. Jimmy raises his eyebrows.

JIMMY  
Oh, so you’re saying the Jimmy from your universe is superior because he had you as a friend?

LISTER  
…..No comment.

Jimmy laughs, and Lister joins in, lifting the mood between them.

JIMMY  
All right, all right, I’ll just leave, then.

LISTER  
Can you do that?

JIMMY  
Probably no.

They smile at each other, low-key falling in love.

JIMMY  
And you know… if you ever decide you want to do friends again, I’m here. And I’m sure Rowan is too.

LISTER  
Yeah, I think I noticed that the last few times he asked me to be in your band. That’s a thing he definitely has in common with my universe’s Rowan.

Jimmy chuckles.

LISTER  
But… actually, I think I could.

JIMMY  
What?

LISTER  
I think I’m ready to be back in the band. Or, well, it’ll probably be more like just a few jam sessions with the two of you, since I don’t think we can call ourselves a band if I have to leave in a few days already…

Jimmy smiles in a strained way.

JIMMY  
Yeah, shit, true.

The conversation fades out, and the two of them go back to looking at the view for a few minutes in comfortable silence. Then:

JIMMY  
I’m kind of getting cold up here.

LISTER  
You really need to get a better suit.

JIMMY  
(grunting)  
I knowwwww…

LISTER  
(smiling)  
Time to get back to the others?

JIMMY  
Yeah, except I don’t know how to get down safely… I don’t even know how to swing yet, and my sticking is really unpredictable…

LISTER  
I can carry you…

JIMMY  
Is that safe?

LISTER  
What, do you doubt my abilities?

JIMMY  
I’m just anxious, that’s all.

LISTER  
You know, I always find the hardest part of the whole thing the initial jump. There’s a lot of willpower involved in telling yourself that you can do this, you're not going to die, you know? In the end, you just have to do it. It’s like...

JIMMY  
Like a leap of faith.

LISTER  
Yes! Exactly!

Jimmy smiles.

JIMMY  
A very wise cashier once told me that.

LISTER  
Ah yes, cashiers are an underrated part of our society. Anyway, how’s this for a leap of faith.

Lister stands up and shoots a web at another tower that's close by. He jumps, wind tearing through his hair as he swings around it. Jimmy stands up, confused, as Lister disappears behind the tower, then reappears, swinging high up into the air so that he’s soaring above the skyline. He does a front-flip for pizzaz and good measure and lands next to Jimmy again, soft on his feet.

LISTER  
Do you trust me now?

JIMMY  
(grinning)  
Show-off.

Lister winks.

JIMMY  
But okay, wouldn’t be the most reckless thing I’ve done these past few days.

LISTER  
Great, hop on.

Lister turns so that Jimmy can climb onto his back. Jimmy hesitantly wraps his arms around Lister’s shoulders.

LISTER  
I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.

JIMMY  
I believe you.

Lister smiles, makes sure Jimmy is holding on tightly and then takes the leap of faith. For a moment they soar through the air with nothing holding them to anything, only clinging to each other. Lister whoops and Jimmy buries his face in Lister’s neck. Then, Lister shoots a web at the top of a nearby skyscraper, and they swing forward.

EXT. LONDON SKYLINE - NIGHT

The wind whips around them as they fly across the skyline, Lister rhythmically swinging from building to building.

LISTER  
(yelling)  
How are you feeling?

JIMMY  
Kind of terrified but also exhilarated!

LISTER  
Do you want to go on?

JIMMY  
Okay!

Lister grins and swings around another building so that they’re now above the Thames. He shoots a web towards Tower Bridge and waits until they’ve almost reached the water to pull them along the web. That way, it almost looks like they’re walking on water because religious symbolism. Jimmy is still holding onto Lister for dear life when they reach the bridge and Lister pulls the two of them through the middle of the towers and the drawbridge.

LISTER  
You okay?

JIMMY  
I think so!

Lister does a few more web slingshots, and swings the two of them all the way to Dorothy’s garden where they land, breathless and exhilarated, cheeks reddened by the wind.

EXT. DOROTHY’S GARDEN - NIGHT

Jimmy is still kind of hanging on to Lister’s back, so when Lister turns around they’re standing very close to each other. For a moment they stay like that, catching their breaths, looking at each other with slight wonder. Jimmy lets out a laugh.

JIMMY  
Wow.

LISTER  
Yeah.

He glances down at Jimmy’s lips, then clears his throat and takes a step back.

LISTER  
Um, we should probably…

He gestures vaguely at the shed.

JIMMY  
Yeah, probably.

There’s one more moment of slightly awkward standing there and looking at each other, then Jimmy turns and starts moving towards the shed. Lister follows him with a sigh.

INT. REC ROOM - MORNING

The Spideys plus Rowan are once again having a briefing in the rec room the next day.

BLISS  
All right, I think it's time to address the giraffe in the room.

She sets up another holographic screen behind her. This time the screen says “plan to defeat mac = ??????”

BLISS  
So yeah. We need ideas.

JULIET  
Well, obviously we all have to get home, which is only possible through that collider thingy, except, well, as mentioned…

ANGEL  
One of us has to stay behind to destroy the machine. I’ll do it.

The Spideys start talking over each other.

JULIET  
Angel, you can’t, I’ll do it!

BLISS  
Please, obviously I’m suited for the job.

JIMMY  
Stop!

Everyone looks at him.

JIMMY  
Why is everyone suggesting they stay behind just to die by cellular degeneration?

As if on cue, the four other Spider-People glitch.

JIMMY  
See? I’m the only one who can safely destroy the machine.

ROWAN  
But, Jimmy, are you sure you can…

Jimmy looks at him, betrayed.

JIMMY  
Are you suggesting we let someone die just because I’m not in perfect control of my powers?

ROWAN  
I didn’t say that!

LISTER  
Don’t shit on Jimmy, he can actually do really cool tricks! Jimmy, show them the invisibility thing.

Everybody looks at Jimmy attentively as he strains, trying to turn invisible like he did back in the lab. It doesn’t work.

JIMMY  
I can’t do it on command.

LISTER  
He can’t do it on command! But it did happen, it was very epic.

Jimmy smiles weakly.

ANGEL  
I think Jimmy has a lot of potential, I’m sure if we spend a few more hours training we’ll be fine!

BLISS  
Well, we can see about that later then.

JULIET  
So, I’m still wondering, how do we actually get to the collider?

JIMMY  
Well, the last time I was there I went in through an abandoned Underground tunnel, but Mac also noticed that I came in, so I don’t know, maybe they’ve blocked it off by now…

BLISS  
Ooh, so what you’re saying is, it’s time for another mission!

EXT. IN FRONT OF THE ABANDONED UNDERGROUND STATION - DAY

Bliss, Lister, Rowan and Jimmy are sitting in a café in South Kensington with a view of the Underground entrance. They’re wearing normal clothes over their Spider-Suits.

JIMMY  
Does it get this hot in normal Spider-Suits too?

LISTER  
You get used to it. By the way, I’d suggest using baby powder once you get a real suit. It can get a bit chafy on the bits, you know.

BLISS  
Oh wow, I’ll have to try that!

Lister grins. Angel and Juliet pop out of the Underground entrance and walk back towards them.

ANGEL  
Yeah, so, slightly bad news, Jimmy was right, the tunnel is completely blocked off, and we couldn’t find any other way in from down there.

LISTER  
Do you think we can, like… forcefully break through the walls? Because I have some built-up rage that could probably be let out like that, too.

JULIET  
I don’t think any of us is strong enough for that, to be honest.

Lister shrugs and pulls a pack of cigarettes. Jimmy notices and rips the pack out of Lister’s hands, forcefully throwing it across the street. Due to Jimmy’s newfound strength, it soars far through the air and crashes through the large window of a nearby building. They all stare at the wreckage for a moment, wide-eyed.

LISTER  
Mate!

JIMMY  
You’ll die if you smoke?

A few people stare at them.

JIMMY  
I should probably… see about the damage… I think people will judge me if I don’t try to make things right…

LISTER  
Or we could just run.

BLISS  
Yeah, fuck property value.

JULIET  
Guys, let’s just take responsibility.

The six of them stand up and walk over to the other side of the street, not before Rowan can throw some money onto the table to pay for their drinks. The house is very tall and modern, quite the contrast to the abandoned Underground right next to it. Jimmy looks at the doorbells while the rest of them look up at the broken window on the first floor.

JIMMY  
Fuck! Guys, I think this building belongs to Anderson Industries…

The others rush up to him to have a look at a plaque next to the doorbells with the Anderson Industries logo on it.

JULIET  
Oh shit! Do you know what this means?

JIMMY  
I’m guessing the collider is in their cellar…

LISTER  
Well, we have to get in, then!

ROWAN  
How would you even do that, it’s the middle of the day and…

He trails off and frowns at the space where a second before, Jimmy was standing. Now, he’s invisible.

JIMMY  
I could go in.

ROWAN  
Wait, but that’s dangerous-

But the silhouette that we see to signify where Jimmy is standing has already pushed past the rest and is scaling the walls up to the broken window. He climbs through.

ROWAN  
What the hell happened to Jimmy?

LISTER  
I think he’s too stressed to think straight. Also, please tell me he’s not straight in this universe too, that would make this joke ten times better.

Rowan shrugs.

ROWAN  
Maybe, ask him.

Lister looks hopeful.

LISTER  
Okay.

ANGEL  
Okay, I’m going after him, you guys please tell me when no-one’s looking.

JULIET  
I think you’re clear, go!

Angel shoots a web and launches herself up through the window.

INT. ANDERSON INDUSTRIES BUILDING - DAY

She ends up on a landing. A few metres further in, it drops down to overlook a large and busy ballroom where several workers are already setting up for an event.

ANGEL  
(quietly)  
Jimmy!

Jimmy fazes into existence beside her. Angel jumps.

ANGEL  
Oh! Hi. Do you know what’s going on here?

JIMMY  
They’re setting up for an Anderson Industries fundraiser in honour of Spider-Angel.

ANGEL  
That’s vile. Mac is literally the one who killed her.

JIMMY  
Yeah, it’s awful.

A guy suddenly appears at the end of the landing.

GUY  
Hey, what are you two doing, slacking off over here!

JIMMY  
Sorry, we’ll get back to work.

The guy frowns at Angel.

GUY  
Wait, aren’t you-

Before he can finish his sentence, Angel grabs Jimmy’s hand and runs back towards the broken window. They jump out.

GUY  
Hey!

He runs after them, tearing off his clothes to reveal a dark henchman's suit underneath. It turns out the man was Lloyd.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - DAY

Angel and Jimmy come jumping out of the window to their very confused group of friends.

ANGEL  
Run! We’ll regroup at base!

Lloyd bursts out behind them, having somehow magically acquired a motorbike. As if through an unspoken agreement, the six of them pull on their masks and split up to run in various directions.

Lloyd decides to follow Angel and Jimmy, who fazes in and out of invisibility as he runs. They cross a busy street, cars swerving out of their way. Angel grabs Jimmy’s hand and together they hop onto a double-decker sightseeing bus. They run along the aisle, the stares of confused tourists following them, and jump off at the front of the bus.

ANGEL  
Enjoy your stay!

They land on top of a taxi. Lloyd has come up beside them and digs his metallic claws into the cab. The two of them scramble to the front so that they’re sitting on the hood. However, this causes the driver to lose their vision, which isn’t ideal since they’ve just reached an intersection.

The taxi crashes into a bus, and a lorry drives into both vehicles. Angel and Jimmy are launched into the air and land on the other side of the wreckage. Next to them, his motorcycle lands, without him on it. Angel stands up and looks around. It seems that they’ve lost him for the time being, so she grabs Jimmy’s hand once more and they run into a side street together.

As the camera pans out on their running, however, we see Lloyd on top of a roof, watching them.

CUT TO BLACK


	7. In an otherwise mediocre existence, we choose to feel passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get to witness a great number of bonding moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another filler-ish chapter, but stay tuned for the end ;)

INT. DOROTHY’S LIVING ROOM - DAY

Bliss, Lister, Rowan and Juliet have already made it back to Dorothy’s, where she and Julie are serving them biscuits and tea.

ROWAN  
Thank you.

DOROTHY  
So, were you able to find an entrance?

JULIET  
That’s a very good question, were we?

BLISS  
Beats me.

Jimmy and Angel come bursting into the living room. The others look at them, first surprised, then expectant.

JULIET  
Were you able to get away?

ANGEL  
Barely, but yeah.

ROWAN  
Are you sure you weren’t followed?

JIMMY  
I mean…

As if on cue, everyone’s Spider-senses start tingling. Rattling can be heard from outside the room by the front door. Jimmy walks into the main hall of the house, the other Spideys following him. Rowan wants to join too, but Lister motions for him to stay put.

INT. ENTRANCE HALL - DAY

The door still rattles while the Spideys pull down their masks, ready for a confrontation. Dorothy, Rowan and Julie look at the action from the doorway to the living room. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and not a second after that, a long, octopus-like tube bursts the entrance open to reveal Carol.

CAROL  
Oh wow, isn’t this place rather fancy?

JIMMY  
I guess we were followed?

ROWAN  
Jimmy, come back here!

But before he can, Carol leaps over their heads and lands behind the Spider-people. Harry, Lloyd and another big humanoid monster with a scorpion tail enter and encircle them.

CAROL  
Pardon my manners, I’m Carol and these are Harry, Lloyd and Ben. Now, would any of you children be kind enough to tell me where the key is?

Without thinking, Lister leaps at her, getting a good blow in before one of her tentacle tubes grabs him and knocks him against the wall with enough force to crack the foundation.

Not a second later, a fully-fledged fight breaks out in Dorothy’s entrance hall. Lloyd flies towards Angel, grabs her, and they start leaping through the air, delivering each other blows.

Ben thrusts his sting towards Jimmy, who just manages to grab a most likely very expensive painting from the wall to use it as a shield. He swats the tail away and scrambles up the big staircase opposite the entrance, Ben following him with clunky steps.

Meanwhile, Harry has his sights set on Juliet and Bliss. Juliet shakes her leg once, and wheels come out of her shoes. Bliss changes a setting on her smartwatch and starts shooting electrically charged webs at Harry while Juliet skates around him, tying his legs up.

All around them, people bash into walls, paintings, bannisters and tables, breaking them and tearing them up.

DOROTHY  
Oh no, not my furniture!

JULIE  
Well, it’s not like we don’t have enough money to fix all of it… I’d be more worried about the art.

Even though some of them appear to be doing well, the tides of the fight are turning. Harry manages to burst out of his webby prison and looms over Bliss and Lister. Lloyd has grabbed Angel’s wrists, her web-shooters breaking in his tight grip. Carol has Lister pinned to the floor again, while another one of her tentacles grabs Jimmy from the top of the staircase and smashes him down next to Lister. Lister smiles weakly at him.

ROWAN  
Fuck no, she won’t.

Rowan grabs a chair from inside the living room and runs up to Carol, smashing it over her head and breaking it into several pieces. For a moment, everyone is stunned, including Rowan. The bad guys’ grips weaken slightly.

ROWAN  
Scatter!

On cue, the Spideys break away and run in opposite directions. Lister grabs Rowan and swings out of the front door with him, Jimmy following. Angel runs up the staircase and bursts through a window on the first floor. Juliet and Bliss run and skate back into the living room, from where Dorothy and Julie lead them to a back door.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - DAY

Lister, Rowan and Jimmy are running and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Lister still carrying Rowan as if he weighs nothing. They reach a house that’s right next to a very narrow street, and Lister drops down, Jimmy following him.

LISTER  
(to Jimmy)  
You okay?

JIMMY  
Yeah.

ROWAN  
What about me, aren’t you gonna ask about the well-being of the only non-meta human guy around here?

LISTER  
(grinning)  
Well of course I know you’re okay, you were in the arms of the one and only Lister John Bird.

ROWAN  
Oh geez.

He rolls his eyes, but he’s also suppressing a smile.

JIMMY  
Did we lose them?

LISTER  
Yeah, I think so.

Jimmy leans against the wall of the house, still catching his breath. He covers his face with his hands and groans.

JIMMY  
God, I’m so stupid, I just compromised our position! Why am I so careless?

ROWAN  
Well, technically Angel was with you, and she should have known better.

LISTER  
Not helpful, Ro.

ROWAN  
Right, sorry.

Rowan steps over to Jimmy and puts his arm around him. Lister watches them, a flash of jealousy crossing his face. He turns around and pulls out his phone, calling Angel.

ROWAN  
This could have happened to anybody, Jimjam, I promise. The only thing we can do now is look forward.

LISTER  
I can’t seem to reach any of the others.

JIMMY  
I’m guessing they’re still on the run…

LISTER  
Right. So… where do we go now?

INT. WETHERSPOON’S - DAY

A little while later, Angel, Juliet, Bliss, Julie and Dorothy, having been able to shake off the villains too, are gathered in a Wetherspoon’s by Leicester Square for a drink and some chips. Luckily, they never took off the civilian clothes that they were wearing over their suits. Angel is looking at her phone.

ANGEL  
Oh look, Lister called! I hope they’re okay.

She presses “call back” and puts the phone to her ear.

ANGEL  
Hey Lister, are you safe?… Yeah, we’re at a pub… oh no, you guys stay where you are, we’ll update you on our next course of action… great, say hi to the others for me, I’m glad you’re okay!… Bye!

She hangs up.

ANGEL  
They’re at the university, but they’re okay. So.

She rubs her hands together.

ANGEL  
How do we get our key back?

BLISS  
Another heist, obvs.

JULIET  
Oh God, no.

BLISS  
(grinning)  
Oh God, yes.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - DAY

Jimmy, Rowan and Lister are back at the LCA. We’re hearing Lister’s conversation with Angel from his side.

LISTER  
Hey Angel, yeah, we’re at Jimmy and Rowan’s university, you?… Oh, great, we should come by then… Ugh, okay, we will… You too, see ya!

He hangs up.

LISTER  
Any place a guy can get a good drink around these parts?

ROWAN  
You’re not drinking, Lister, not today.

LISTER  
Sure, mum. Take away my last shred of joy, will you?

ROWAN  
Alcoholism isn’t real joy, Lister.

Jimmy, uncomfortable with where the conversation is going, quickly changes the subject.

JIMMY  
You know what we could do while we wait?

The other two look at him expectantly.

JIMMY  
Lister, you said you’d be down to jam with us a bit, so why don’t we go to the music room?

Rowan turns back to Lister, an excited glint in his eye.

ROWAN  
You said that?

LISTER  
Well, yeah, I guess I did.

ROWAN  
Okay, that’s fantubular actually, let’s go lads!

Rowan walks out of the room, spirits high. Lister and Jimmy follow him.

JIMMY  
(whispering)  
"Fantubular”? Bliss is really getting to that guy.

Lister snickers.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY

The music room is, blessedly, empty when Lister, Jimmy and Rowan arrive. The three of them are full of excitement at the prospect of getting to make some music. They very naturally glide to their respective instruments and start tuning them and warming up.

LISTER  
Alrighty, so… how shall we do this?

ROWAN  
Well, I’ve been writing this song these past few days, maybe we could try it out? I’ll send it to you both.

He pulls out his phone and sends off a text.

LISTER  
How did you even have time to write a song with everything that’s been going on?

ROWAN  
Believe it or not, some of us are mere mortals.

LISTER  
Love that for you.

By now, Lister and Jimmy both have their phone in their hands and are reading through the lyrics and the concept of the song.

LISTER  
Oh my God, Jimmy, do you think the second verse is about Bliss?

JIMMY  
Ooooh, could be, or maybe about Frances…

ROWAN  
Okay, both of you, shut it.

LISTER  
Come onnnnnn, Ro, tell us about your crush!

Jimmy wags his eyebrows.

JIMMY  
Yeah, Rowan, who do you fancy?

ROWAN  
So, I was thinking, for the melody we do something like this.

He starts strumming a few chords and sings some of the words while Jimmy and Lister grin at each other. They decide to drop it and focus on the music.

Jimmy imitates what Rowan is doing and sings along with him. Lister soon joins in with a beat that fits the song perfectly. By the second verse, the three of them are blended together, as if this, jamming with each other, is what they were born for. They seem to be able to sing the words and know where to fit in a passionate drum- or guitar solo, without having to communicate any of it and it’s epic.

Once the song ends, they just grin at each other in wonder. A slight hint of sadness crosses Lister’s face, too, though.

LISTER  
God, I missed this. Hey, so, I know this band is only temporary but how’s Death Lords for a name?

ROWAN  
Since when are we a heavy metal band?

LISTER  
Aw man, that’s what the last Rowan said, too.

ROWAN  
Well, I’m sure he was responsible.

Lister smiles weakly.

JIMMY  
Lister, tell me if this question is out of line or something, but what did you call your band in your universe?

LISTER  
Oh, um, Noah’s Ark was our name.

ROWAN  
Jimmy’s idea?

LISTER  
Yeah. What do you think, Jim?

JIMMY  
I think I had an idea for something similar once. What do you two think of The Ark?

LISTER  
Why, Jimmy, I think that sounds absolutely fantubular.

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY - NIGHT

Angel, Juliet and Bliss walk along a hallway, looking for their hotel room. Angel is holding the computer and the hard drive that they just got back from the bad guys. They’re in a post-heist glow, talking excitedly.

ANGEL  
No, but did you see Harry’s face when we just dropped out of nowhere and webbed him into oblivion?

JULIET  
Priceless.

BLISS  
Somebody should’ve filmed that.

ANGEL  
Facts. So, Dorothy said she booked us room 608, that should be right over… there!

They knock at the door to room 608, and Dorothy opens it for them. She breathes a sigh of relief.

DOROTHY  
I’m so glad you made it. Come on in.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

The girls step in to find a big suite. Like, massive. The kind that only rich people can afford.

BLISS  
Fuck me, this is the fanciest shit...

ANGEL  
Yeah, they’re rich.

BLISS  
I will reluctantly forgive them for that. Just this once.

DOROTHY  
So, Julie and I will be sleeping in the room next door.

She points to a door connected to the suite.

DOROTHY  
Will you girls be fine over here?

JULIET  
Yeah, absolutely!

Dorothy wishes them a good night and retires into the room next door. The three girls sit down at a table, looking at the computer.

JULIET  
So is everything still good with the sync and stuff?

BLISS  
I think so, looks okay enough to me…

ANGEL  
Ugh, I feel so stupid for letting us be followed. This whole shit could’ve easily been prevented.

JULIET  
It could’ve happened to any of us, Angel. You know that.

ANGEL  
Yeah. But anyway, what’s our plan for taking down Mac and Carol and the like in a few days?

JULIET  
Ugh, let’s not talk about stupid Mac or stupid Carol.

BLISS  
Yeah, fuck them.

ANGEL  
But don’t you think it might be good to figure out their weaknesses or something?

JULIET  
Angel, please. We all need some time off.

BLISS  
Do any of you know how to play Whackers?

The other two stare at her blankly.

BLISS  
Of course you don’t, let me teach you. It’s simple.

She pulls up a hologram and projects it across the table between them. It looks like several board games hovering over each other, connected through stairs and poles, each board with a different complicated pattern on it.

JULIET  
“Simple” you say?

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - NIGHT

After spending the entire evening making music, the boys are ready to go to bed. Lister will sleep in Jimmy’s room, it has been decided. They’ve changed into their pyjamas already, Lister wearing some of Rowan’s clothes since they’re the right size, and right now, the two of them are awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.

JIMMY  
So, you can take the bed, and I can sleep on the rug-

LISTER  
No way, mate, I’m taking the rug. No arguing.

As if to demonstrate, he plops down in the middle of the carpet.

JIMMY  
Okay, you know what, this is ridiculous, let’s just both sleep in the bed.

Lister sits up, flustered.

LISTER  
Oh, really?

Jimmy cringes.

JIMMY  
Or not, if it’s uncomfortable, I don’t know, I was just thinking since we’re kind of friends now-

LISTER  
Oh no, no, I’d love- I mean, I’d be happy to… you know…

JIMMY  
(nodding)  
Cool, okay, let’s do it.

They both awkwardly get into the narrow bed, squeezed next to each other.

JIMMY  
Are- are you comfortable?

LISTER  
Yeah, yeah.

JIMMY  
Good. Um. Well, good night, then.

LISTER  
Good night.

But they both still just stare up at the ceiling for a while before they manage to fall asleep.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Angel, Bliss and Juliet are locked in an intense game of Whackers. They all look like they’re enjoying themselves. Juliet is in the middle of telling a story.

JULIET  
...But the problem was, the venue we’d booked ended up not being renovated until literally the day before the first show, so we had to just work the whole night through on setting everything up and doing some last rehearsals and so on, just for our star dancer to knock into some whacky protruding landing. Luckily it wasn’t serious, and we were able to put on a fairly good show the next day. But yeah, I may be fighting off villains left and right, but nothing will ever be as stressful as that.

They have a good laugh at that.

ANGEL  
You know, I haven’t done anything like this in a long time.

BLISS  
Like what?

ANGEL  
Just… hanging out. Having fun with my friends. I haven’t thought about superhero-ing in an hour now, that doesn’t happen very often. But yeah, I think you guys are making me realise that there’s a lot more to life that I’ve forgotten about. Fuck, I need to apologise to Juliet. As in, my Juliet.

JULIET  
Yeah, I got that. But I’m really glad you realised this.

BLISS  
Me too. I’m proud of you, mate.

JULIET  
And if your Juliet is anything like me, I’m sure she’ll forgive you. I mean, all both of us want in the end is good friends who are here for us, and that’s what you are.

Angel smiles.

ANGEL  
Thank you. God, I’m going to cry now.

JULIET  
Oh no! Don’t cry!

She scoots around the table and wraps her arms around Angel. Bliss joins them for a tearful group hug.

BLISS  
I’m going to miss both of you so much.

ANGEL  
Nooo, don’t remind me that I have to leave you soon!

BLISS  
Okay, then I’ll remind you that it’s your turn to pick a card.

Angel laughs and they separate to continue the game.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - NIGHT

Jimmy wakes up in the middle of the night to find the space next to him empty. He sits up in alarm.

JIMMY  
Lister?

He stands up and looks around frantically.

JIMMY  
(a bit louder)  
Lister?

A voice sounds from the bathroom.

LISTER  
I’m in here!

Jimmy breathes a sigh of relief and walks over to his dorm room's bathroom.

INT. JIMMY’S BATHROOM - NIGHT

He enters to find Lister hanging upside-down from the ceiling, swinging from a web.

JIMMY  
Are you okay?

LISTER  
I mean, as okay as one can be. I’m sorry if I scared you.

JIMMY  
It’s… fine. You didn’t go out drinking, did you?

LISTER  
I really, really wanted to. I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about how happy I was today, just jamming with you and Ro, a lot like I used to, but- I also keep remembering that it’s all just temporary, and soon I’m going to go back to my miserable parallel universe where everyone I love is gone, and- I don’t know. Sorry, here I am just unloading all this deep shit on you. It’s really not that bad, I’ll make it work.

JIMMY  
Lister-

He steps closer to Lister. Their faces are on the same level.

JIMMY  
I’m so sorry. You don’t need to pretend that it’s okay when it clearly isn’t. You deserve to let your true feelings out.

Lister, very conscious of how close the two are right now, looks down - or I guess up in his case - to Jimmy’s lips.

LISTER  
I guess it’s also just sad because I was hoping that- I don’t know, I was starting to feel some things. For this guy from this universe, things I hadn’t actually felt for his version in my universe.

JIMMY  
Well, I mean, Rowan’s straight, so I’m sorry to burst your bubble-

LISTER  
(chuckling)  
No, I’m not talking about Rowan. I’m talking about this cute guy with Spider-powers. He's still a bit rocky but he's getting there.

Jimmy frowns, then, realising, his mouth forms an O. He takes another small step closer to Lister so that they’re mere centimetres apart. They’re both very quiet, neither of them daring to make the first move.

LISTER  
(murmuring)  
I mean, they do say sometimes it’s best to just live in the moment.

JIMMY  
(whispering)  
Yeah, that’s true.

In the end, they both close the distance at the same time. Lister grabs Jimmy’s head and Jimmy leans forward, their lips meeting in the middle, first softly pressing against each other, but quickly becoming more passionate as they sink deeper into the kiss and get to know each other in this brand-new way.

In the end, the ultimate Spider-Man kiss will always be the one between two Spider-Men.

CUT TO BLACK


	8. With great power comes great responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimmy needs to go to therapy soon.

SUNDAY

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - DAY

It’s the next morning. Jimmy and Lister are snuggled up in Jimmy’s bed, listening to music and alternating between soft conversations, laughs and kisses.

JIMMY  
I still can’t believe you’ve never heard this band, they're a classic! John Mulaney did a whole sketch on them.

LISTER  
I don’t think they exist in my universe! I think I’d know about them if John Mulaney talked about them.

JIMMY  
Well, at least your hellhole of a universe has John Mulaney.

LISTER  
Hey, only I get to call my universe a hellhole!

They both laugh at that, then fall into a sombre silence.

JIMMY  
Are we making a mistake?

LISTER  
Hm?

JIMMY  
With all of this. Starting something even though we both know it’s not going to last beyond the next few days.

LISTER  
Well, we did say live in the moment. Plus, it’s nothing serious, right? Just two guys in a stressful situation looking for a few moments of connection. Nothing serious. Nothing more than that.

JIMMY  
Yeah.

He nods. But his nod is just as half-hearted as Lister’s words. They can’t help falling in love with each other.

LISTER  
But now’s not the time to think about stupid stuff like responsibilities. Until someone comes to physically force us back into our Spider-Suits, it’s like, the outside world? I don’t know her.

Jimmy laughs and buries his face in Lister’s chest.

JIMMY  
Ughhhh, exactly. Let’s just stay here forever.

Lister smiles, wraps his arms around Jimmy and kisses his hair. Jimmy raises his head so that they can give each other a few soft kisses. He readjusts his body until he’s lying on top of Lister, kissing him more deeply.

Just as their make-out session is about to gain more heat, Jimmy’s phone starts ringing. Jimmy groans and rolls back onto the bed beside Lister.

LISTER  
You don’t have to take that.

JIMMY  
No, it might be important.

He reaches over Lister’s body and picks his phone up from the bedside table. The caller ID reads “Rowan”.

JIMMY  
Hey, what’s up?

ROWAN (O.S)  
Hey, Jimjam, did you sleep well?

JIMMY  
Yeah, it was okay.

He smiles at Lister, who is stroking Jimmy's hair.

JIMMY  
Any news from the girls?

ROWAN (O.S)  
Yeah, I talked to them, they’re all safe. Angel asked if you wanted to meet up this afternoon to do some more training, this time with all the Spider-people.

JIMMY  
I guess I can try…

ROWAN (O.S)  
Fab. Also, if you’re both awake, I was thinking we could jam some more before we have to go, since this could be our last chance, you know...

JIMMY  
O- okay, sounds cool, we can meet you in the music room in half an hour.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Sure.

They hang up. Jimmy turns back to Lister, who pouts.

LISTER  
So no lying in bed all day?

JIMMY  
I’m not sure if Rowan would be happy if we blew him off like this. But I did buy us half an hour, so we can make it count.

Lister grins and pulls Jimmy towards him again so that they can make out for the next thirty minutes.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY

45 minutes later, Jimmy and Lister burst through the door of the music room, out of breath and flushed, to find Rowan already sitting there, frowning.

ROWAN  
About time, what took you so long?

LISTER  
Oh, um…

He and Jimmy look at each other, barely able to conceal their knowing grins.

LISTER  
You know, long showers and all that.

Rowan narrows his eyes, suspicious.

ROWAN  
Right on, then. Anyway, let’s get rocking, lads.

Lister and Jimmy make their way over to their instruments.

INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY

The Ark are midway through a song when Rowan decides to stop them abruptly.

ROWAN  
Okay, stop, stop. You two keep glancing at each other like you’re in some sort of gay historical secret love story and it’s very distracting.

JIMMY  
Wha- no we’re not!

LISTER  
I mean…

ROWAN  
Just tell me the truth… did something happen between the two of you last night?

Jimmy and Lister look at each other bashfully.

ROWAN  
Oh my God, something did happen. Fuck me!

LISTER  
I don’t think that’s gonna happen, since we’re kind of fucking each other at this point.

Jimmy blushes furiously.

ROWAN  
Jesus fucking shit. May I ask why you thought that would be a good idea?

JIMMY  
I think we’re capable of making our own decisions, Rowan.

ROWAN  
I’m just saying, this can’t be going anywhere, Lister can’t stay in this universe.

As if to demonstrate, Lister glitches.

ROWAN  
See? I just don’t want either of you to get your hearts broken!

JIMMY  
Worry about yourself for once, Rowan!

Rowan stares at Jimmy, open-mouthed.

JIMMY  
I’m going to the loo.

He stands up abruptly and exits the room. Lister looks at Rowan awkwardly.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

Jimmy walks through the halls with no direction, on the verge of an anxiety attack, when he’s suddenly thrown back into reality by slamming into someone coming around the corner. He steps back to find the university’s counsellor, Cecily in front of him.

JIMMY  
God, I’m sorry…

CECILY  
No stress. Jimmy Kaga-Ricci, right?

JIMMY  
Uh, yeah.

CECILY  
You look like absolute shit.

JIMMY  
Uh… th- what?

CECILY  
Come with me, Jimmy, I think you’re in need of some guidance.

She turns around and starts walking briskly towards her office. Jimmy sees no other option but to follow her.

INT. CECILY’S OFFICE - DAY

Cecily is behind her desk, intently looking at Jimmy, who is fidgeting around in his chair opposite her.

CECILY  
So. You’re the new Spider-Angel, huh?

JIMMY  
Wh- how- I-

CECILY  
You’re wondering how I know?

JIMMY  
Well, yes, kind of!

CECILY  
Well, you just proved it without a doubt. But don’t worry, nobody else knows and I’m not going to tell anyone. I just happen to be very attentive. Also, the nurse told me about that sticky incident with you and that guy’s hair the other day. It makes sense that that would somehow be connected to all of these Spider-People who’ve been making the news these past few days.

JIMMY  
We were on the news?

CECILY  
Only in your costumes, if that makes you feel any better.

JIMMY  
I can’t believe I didn’t notice…

CECILY  
So, Jimmy, I wanted you in here because I can tell from your everything that you need some guidance and apparently it’s my job to give that. Do you have a therapist?

JIMMY  
We wanted to set me up with one here in London, but it’s been kind of overshadowed so far…

CECILY  
That’s understandable. Good thing I’m here, so talk.

JIMMY  
Um… well… I’m just- I have these new powers suddenly, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to control them in time, because I need to kind of save the world, like, tomorrow, and it’s stressing me out so much.

Cecily nods.

CECILY  
With great power comes great responsibility, yes.

JIMMY  
And now yesterday I kind of started this… thing with one of the people from the alternate universes, and I thought it would be enough to just live in the moment for now, but I can’t stop wondering about the future, and it’s just sinking in that I’m just doing what I always do again, I’m just ruining my own life, because I don’t know, I’m so bad at this and-

CECILY  
Tell me about what you’ve done right as Spider-Angel.

JIMMY  
What?

CECILY  
Is there any instance where you were able to help the group?

JIMMY  
I mean… I figured out how to get into the bad guy’s secret lair I guess… although right after that-

CECILY  
See? You’ve helped. And that’s beside the point anyway, your worth isn’t defined by how you help or what mistakes you make.

JIMMY  
Yeah, but that doesn’t help me, I don’t know, come into my powers or whatever. I just- I need someone to tell me what to do. I don’t know.

CECILY  
Living in the moment is probably a good start, at least until we find you an actual therapist. As soon as you start to worry about what will happen, you stop focusing on what is happening and what you need to do, and then you clam up. And for now, we can maybe try doing a few breathing exercises?

Jimmy nods and smiles weakly.

CECILY  
You’re okay, Jimmy. I need you to start believing that.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

After some more time with Cecily, Jimmy exits her office. He closes his eyes, making sense of everything she told him. Then his phone vibrates. He pulls it out to find that Rowan texted him. The text reads “hey, jim, just wanted to ask if you’re still coming to train with angel&co, cos we should leave now”. It is followed up by another message, reading “by the way, i’m really sorry about what i said about you and lister. of course you can make your own decisions and it was really low of me to try and get between you two. i love you, jimjam”. This makes Jimmy smile softly.

EXT. WOODS - DAY

Jimmy, Rowan and Lister arrive in the same patch of forest Jimmy and Angel trained in last time. The three girls are already there and greet them.

ANGEL  
So! Who’s ready to try this again?

JIMMY  
I think I might be.

ANGEL  
Very glad to hear that, mate. So, why don’t we start with some web-swinging again, some important basics?

Jimmy closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. Lister steps over to him and cups his cheeks, forcing Jimmy to look up.

LISTER  
You can do this, Jim. It’s all in you. Leap of faith, remember?

Jimmy nods. The girls watch the two of them with raised eyebrows.

ANGEL  
Is it just me… or did something happen between you two?

Jimmy and Lister look over at her, Lister quickly dropping his hands.

JIMMY  
(turning red)  
Uh…

JULIET  
I mean, I always thought Jimmy had a thing with Rowan, to be honest, but you're cute too.

ROWAN  
Okay, first of all, Jimmy and I are like brothers, nothing else.

JULIET  
Right, of course. Sorry.

Jimmy and Lister look at each other and Lister shrugs.

JIMMY  
Um… maybe?

BLISS  
Ayyyy, good for you! In my universe, the two of you started shagging ages ago.

JULIET  
So you basically know all of us in your universe, too?

BLISS  
Yeah, actually, in my universe the six of us are a crew of vigilante freedom fighters! I haven’t told you that yet?

JULIET  
No!

LISTER  
But please do, that sounds epic.

ROWAN  
I think we should focus on Jimmy’s training, maybe?

ANGEL  
Right, yes, back on track.

Before they can continue, though, Bliss’ smartwatch pings. She looks at the notification.

BLISS  
Actually, I think we might have to pause this, for now at least, the data has finished downloading.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - DAY

The six are gathered in the hotel suite. Bliss pulls a flash drive out of the computer and presents it to the others.

BLISS  
Ta-da!

JULIET  
Bliss, you’re amazing!

BLISS  
(blushing)  
It’s mostly my universe’s superior tech that you can thank for this, but thanks!

JULIET  
So, what’s the plan now? Do we leave right away, or…

JIMMY  
Well, Angel and I heard yesterday that there’s this fundraiser tonight, so I don’t know…

ANGEL  
Yeah, security will be tight. So maybe it’s not the wisest decision to go right now.

LISTER  
So tomorrow then? Cool.

While the others talk further, Lister walks over to the suite's minibar and opens the fridge.

ANGEL  
It’s probably for the best anyway, then we can give Jimmy some last-minute training tonight!

ROWAN  
Jimmy, are you still okay with this?

JIMMY  
Yeah, I can do this.

Angel smiles.

ANGEL  
Nice.

LISTER  
Yo, where are Dorothy and Julie?

ANGEL  
They went to forcefully take back their house…

They all turn to Lister, who is in the process of downing a bottle of whisky.

ROWAN  
Lister, what are you doing?

LISTER  
Enjoying my last night in this universe, what does it look like I’m doing?

JULIET  
I don’t think it’s very wise to drink right now…

LISTER  
Hey, no stress, I’ll be sober by the time we do the thing.

Lister’s eyes meet Jimmy, who looks... well, disappointed would be an understatement.

JIMMY  
I think I need some fresh air.

He turns around and rushes out of the room. Lister sighs, puts down his drink and follows Jimmy. The rest look at each other, not quite knowing what to do.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY

Lister catches up with Jimmy by the lifts. Jimmy is pressing the “down” button repeatedly, willing it to come faster.

LISTER  
Hey, Jim!

JIMMY  
Go away, Lister.

LISTER  
Whoa, what’s this about?

Jimmy finally faces Lister. He’s angry.

JIMMY  
What happened to not drinking before a big job?

LISTER  
Well, this thing doesn’t start for several hours, so I think I get to enjoy my last night here!

JIMMY  
So what, you didn’t enjoy yesterday night? Or this morning?

LISTER  
Come on, Jim, of course I did!

The lift doors open and Jimmy steps in. Lister follows.

LISTER  
But now I finally know that we won’t be in imminent danger until tomorrow, so sue me for wanting to let loose a bit! We can still have an amazing evening together!

JIMMY  
Yeah, well, I’m not too keen on making out with a drunk guy, sorry. You’re an alcoholic, Lister.

They’ve arrived at the bottom floor and the doors open. Neither of them steps out. Lister lets out a laugh.

LISTER  
No, I’m not! I just like partying-

JIMMY  
That’s not-

LISTER  
You know, have you ever thought about how hard this is for me? I have to go back to my universe tomorrow! I can’t survive over here, in the universe where I’ve felt happiness for the first time in forever!

Both of them have started crying now.

LISTER (CONT’D)  
At least you and Rowan get to stay here, together, you can probably even find this universe’s Lister for your stupid band! I have no one. I have to go back to a place where the only friends I’ve ever had are fucking dead.

Lister sobs.

LISTER (CONT’D)  
So yeah, maybe I like drowning my sorrows sometimes, to make everything easier. So sorry if you can’t deal with that.

The lights in the lift turn off and for a few moments, they’re both silent and teary, until Lister pushes the “open” button and steps out, away from Jimmy. The doors close behind him again and we’re rewarded one last shot of Jimmy breaking down.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - DAY

The blinds in Jimmy’s room are down, with only small cracks letting the late afternoon light shine onto the lump of covers that Jimmy is buried under. Someone knocks at the door.

ROWAN (O.S)  
It’s me!

JIMMY  
Come in, it’s unlocked!

Rowan opens the door and walks over to sit down on the side of Jimmy’s bed. He carefully pulls back the covers to reveal Jimmy’s tear-streaked face.

ROWAN  
Hey, Jimjam…

JIMMY  
(smiling weakly)  
Hi.

ROWAN  
Do you want to talk about it?

JIMMY  
I had a fight with Lister.

ROWAN  
Yeah, I figured.

JIMMY  
Why does everything have to be so hard? Why do I have to go and fall in love with someone I won’t ever see again after tomorrow?

ROWAN  
(softly)  
I’m so sorry, Jim.

Rowan lies down next to Jimmy and wraps his arms around his best friend.

JIMMY  
All of this because of some spider. Why me? Why did the spider decide to bite me of all people? Anybody else would’ve been so much better at this! God, I wish Fereshteh was still here. I wish everything wasn’t so complicated.

Jimmy starts crying again. Rowan pulls Jimmy towards him and lets him cry into his shoulder, stroking his back soothingly.

ROWAN  
Shhh, it’s okay, this is a lot to ask of a teenager. It’s okay, Jimmy, you don’t need to do this.

JIMMY  
I do, though.

Rowan keeps stroking Jimmy’s back and whispering soothing words until Jimmy is all cried out.

ROWAN  
Why don’t you sleep a little bit? I’ll tell the others that you need to rest before training.

JIMMY  
Okay. Thank you, Rowan. For being here.

ROWAN  
Always.

Jimmy starts dozing off in Rowan’s arms. Rowan stares at the ceiling, the look on his face suggesting that he’s made his mind up about something. Something painful.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING

Rowan is back at the hotel with Bliss, Juliet and Angel, in the middle of a serious declaration.

ROWAN  
I’m really concerned about Jimmy. He’s just way in over his head and I’m worried he’ll get himself killed tomorrow.

ANGEL  
So what do you suggest we do? There just isn’t enough time to train him adequately…

ROWAN  
I think you should go without him. Tonight.

CUT TO BLACK


	9. What's up, danger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jimmy is born for this.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - EVENING

The three girls stare at Rowan, who just suggested they go through the portal tonight.

ANGEL  
Yeah, we’re one step ahead of ya.

ROWAN  
Jimmy thinks it’s his duty to save the world- wait, what?

BLISS  
We’re about to leave to find Lister and then go through the portal.

ANGEL  
We talked and we agree, Jimmy isn’t ready yet. Obviously, it’s too bad about the training, but he’ll get the hang of it eventually, especially with someone like you on his side.

ROWAN  
But- how were you all going to survive?

JULIET  
We'll insert the key, then fall down and when we’re almost through the portal, we’ll shoot some last webs at the self-destruct button, which will press it once we’re through already. It’s obviously much riskier than just having someone else push it, but we’ve weighed the odds, and this way it’s more likely that we’ll all survive.

ROWAN  
I was going to suggest I come with you…

BLISS  
No offence, Rowan, but how would you even get up there. No, you can wait here and see to it that Jimmy doesn’t do anything stupid.

Rowan frowns.

ANGEL  
We’ll be fine. Now we just need to find Lister. You can obviously help with that, at least.

INT. JIMMY’S ROOM - NIGHT

Jimmy wakes up to find Rowan gone. He stands up and gets into his Spider-Angel costume.

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY - NIGHT

Jimmy knocks on the door of the hotel room. When nobody answers, he bangs again, more loudly this time. Still nothing. Confused and worried, he pulls out his phone and calls Angel. Straight to voicemail. Next, he calls Rowan, who picks up immediately.

JIMMY  
Rowan? Where are you? Do you know where everybody is?

ROWAN (O.S)  
I’m out. The others… they’re… also out.

JIMMY  
You’re lying.

ROWAN (O.S)  
What-

JIMMY  
You know something.

ROWAN (O.S)  
I promise, Jimmy, I don’t know where they are, they probably just went out to a party or something.

JIMMY  
(desperately)  
Please, Rowan. Tell me what you know. I’m really worried.

Rowan sighs on the other end of the line, giving in.

ROWAN (O.S)  
I really didn’t want you to find out this way, but… They left for the collider already. I’m so sorry, Jimjam.

JIMMY  
(whispering)  
What the fuck?

ROWAN (O.S)  
I’m sorry-

JIMMY  
No, Rowan, you’re not.

ROWAN (O.S)  
What do you mean?

JIMMY  
This is exactly what you wanted. You never wanted me to go out and be a hero because you don’t think I’m capable of doing anything on my own. You just think I’m weak and fragile, and that you need to protect me from everything.

ROWAN  
I don’t think you’re weak-

JIMMY  
You know what? I bet this was your idea, Rowan. Yes, I bet you told them to just leave without a goodbye because poor, weak little Jimmy can’t even lift a fist without having a panic attack.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Well, I mean, they would’ve done it anyway-

JIMMY  
I knew it! God, Rowan, you’re such a fucking-

ROWAN (O.S)  
You know what, Jimmy? Yes, I did want them to go without you, and yes, I don’t want you to do any of this Spider-Angel shit. Can you even imagine what this must be like for me? Seeing your best friend act all weird all of a sudden, run off to random places all the time and then have more panic attacks in one week than in the past few months? Of course I don’t want you to fucking go off and risk your life when you’re not ready!

Rowan and Jimmy are both crying by now.

ROWAN (CONT’D)  
I love you, Jimmy, and I hate to see you be so anxious. I just want you to rest!

JIMMY  
Well, I can’t rest, not when I have a promise to keep and people to save! And you know that Rowan, so how could you just let them leave?

ROWAN (O.S)  
I-

Jimmy sobs. His breathing is starting to turn erratic.

JIMMY  
I have to go.

He hangs up and crouches down in the middle of the hallway, trying to get his incoming panic attack under control, but failing for the time being.

He keeps getting flashbacks of all the bad things that have happened over the past few days; his fight with Rowan; his fight with Lister; all of his panic attacks; his inability to control his powers on the balcony of Anderson Industries HQ; and finally, his inability to control his powers during that first training session with Angel. That’s where his mind hangs onto a very specific flashback, however.

EXT. WOODS - DAY

It’s the flashback of Angel and Jimmy in the woods, right after Jimmy had his panic attack.

ANGEL  
I’m sorry. You know, maybe the web-slinging can be a good breathing exercise!

JIMMY  
W- what do you mean?

ANGEL  
Like, you breathe in when you shoot a web, and you breathe out when you swing, you know? It might centre you or something. But I don’t know, I’m not very familiar with the exact logistics of panic attacks, sorry.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

Jimmy still has a web-slinger that Dorothy gave him - an old one of Fereshteh’s. He pulls it out with shaky hands and fastens it to his wrist. Still shaking, he raises his arm and aims towards the wall, shooting a web. Seeing that he’s able to do that, he tries to apply Angel’s advice, rhythmically shooting webs as he breathes out. At first, it doesn’t work very well, his breathing is still very out of rhythm. However, after about a minute or so, he starts getting in sync with the webs and he relaxes, his breathing regaining a normal pace.

He takes another few deep breaths, then lowers his arm again and leans back against the wall. The look on his face has gained a new sort of determination.

EXT. IN FRONT OF DOROTHY’S HOUSE - NIGHT

Angel rings the doorbell to Dorothy’s newly reclaimed house. The door buzzes open and she meets Dorothy and Julie inside.

INT. ENTRANCE HALL - NIGHT

Dorothy and Julie are waiting for Angel in the still rather wrecked entrance hall of Dorothy’s house. They both seem to know what’s coming.

ANGEL  
So I see you were able to retake the place?

JULIE  
Yeah, there wasn’t much competition now that they don’t have a key to guard anymore. Also, I think Mac needed most of his henchmen at the gala tonight.

ANGEL  
Cool. Well. We kind of decided, well-

DOROTHY  
You’re going tonight already.

ANGEL  
Yeah. Sorry. But I’ll miss you, obviously…

Julie steps over to Angel and smothers her in a hug.

JULIE  
(through tears)  
I’ll miss you too.

She steps back again and allows Dorothy to embrace Angel too.

ANGEL  
Well, um, thank you for all your help, and you know, I’m really sorry about your Fereshteh… And if I ever happen to stumble upon some interdimensional travel device, I’ll know who to call, haha.

They all smile weakly at each other. Then Angel turns around and walks towards the door.

JULIE  
Fereshteh- I mean, Angel?

Angel turns around.

JULIE  
Good luck.

Angel smiles.

ANGEL  
Thank you. And you know, Fereshteh is okay, actually.

Julie and Dorothy smile proudly, understanding the implications of those words. Angel turns around a final time, shoots a long web through the door and swings out.

EXT. IN FRONT OF A BAR - NIGHT

We check back in on Rowan, who’s sitting on a curb, just off the phone with Jimmy. He’s crying. Lister is sitting next to him, chugging down a bottle of water to sober up. He looks at Rowan, concerned.

LISTER  
You okay?

Rowan tries to regain some composure and wipes off his tears.

ROWAN  
Yeah, I just- I always get really worried about Jimmy. Like, I’ve known him since pretty much forever, and I’ve had to watch him go through so much shit, and I just don’t want him to get hurt… But he’s right. I should know that he’s stronger than any of us.

Lister nods. There’s a hint of longing on his face.

LISTER  
Yeah, he is.

ROWAN  
(sniffling)  
But anyway, do you feel sobered up enough?

LISTER  
I mean, I don’t have any other choice, unfortunately.

ROWAN  
(tentatively)  
Lister? Do you think you may have a problem?

Lister closes his eyes and sighs.

LISTER  
Yeah, I know I do. Jimmy was right about that too, I am an alcoholic.

ROWAN  
Promise to get help? For us?

LISTER  
I’ll- I’ll try.

Rowan smiles.

ROWAN  
Oh and… I don’t think I’ll see the others anymore, so will you say bye to them from me? And safe travels?

LISTER  
Will do. I’ll tell Bliss you’ll miss her.

ROWAN  
(flustered)  
Uh, huh?

Lister grins. Then his expression turns serious again.

LISTER  
Will you tell Jimmy that I’m sorry?

ROWAN  
If he ever wants to talk to me again, I promise I will.

LISTER  
He will talk to you again, I know it. What the two of you have, in every universe, this deep friendship- it’s rare. Back in my universe I sometimes felt really left out because of it, like it was just Jimmy and Rowan, and then Lister, you know?

ROWAN  
Lister, I’m sorry.

LISTER  
But anyway, you need to hold on to this love, cherish it, you know? God, I sound so sappy.

Rowan chuckles.

ROWAN  
I wish there was a way for you to stay so that we could fix everything, too...

LISTER  
Yeah, me too. But alas. It is time for dear old Allister to depart.

They both smile at each other weakly.

LISTER  
Well. Bye then.

ROWAN  
Bye.

Lister reaches over to hug Rowan tightly. Then he steps back, gives him one last salute, and webs off into the night.

Once he’s out of site, Rowan takes out his phone to call Jimmy.

EXT. HOTEL ROOFTOP - NIGHT

Jimmy is several storeys aboveground, looking down at the bustling streets. He’s holding his phone to his ear. The person on the other side picks up. It’s Piero.

JIMMY  
Hi, grandad.

PIERO (O.S)  
Jim-Bob! Is something wrong? We haven’t talked in ages!

JIMMY  
No, everything’s okay, it’s just been a busy few days.

PIERO (O.S)  
Ah yes, I understand, university can be stressful.

Jimmy laughs.

JIMMY  
Yeah. Uni.

PIERO (O.S)  
So, any particular reason why you’re calling old grandad in the middle of the night?

JIMMY  
No, I just- I just wanted to hear your voice. I miss you.

PIERO (O.S)  
I miss you too, Jim-Bob. But you know that you’re going to get amazing things done over there, right?

JIMMY  
You think so?

PIERO (O.S)  
I know it. There’s so much fire in you, my boy. Sometimes you just need to let it shine.

Jimmy smiles.

JIMMY  
Thank you, grandad. I love you.

PIERO (O.S)  
I love you too.

They say their goodbyes and hang up. Jimmy lowers his phone and looks at the screen. There are a missed call and a voicemail from Rowan. Jimmy presses play.

ROWAN (O.S)  
Hey, Jim. I don’t know when you’ll hear this, but I’m so, so sorry. I know I can be overbearing at times, and overprotective, but I want you to know that whatever you do, I support you, and I know that it will be great, because you’re great, and you were born for this. I’m so lucky that you’re my best friend. I love you. I hope we can talk soon.

After that message, the phone call with Piero, Jimmy looks up with newfound confidence. He can control his powers, and he knows this now. This marks the beginning of Jimmy’s very own coming-into-his-powers montage. Like the What’s Up Danger scene except set to a rock song.

EXT. IN FRONT OF DOROTHY’S HOUSE - NIGHT

An epic rock song that makes you feel badass and ready to leap across buildings starts playing while we see Jimmy walk up to Dorothy’s house. Dorothy opens the door for him with a big smile.

DOROTHY  
Took you long enough.

EXT. ON TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER - NIGHT

A close-up of Jimmy’s face. A Spider-Angel mask is on his head, but not pulled down yet. Behind him, we can make out the London skyline.

EXT. DOROTHY’S GARDEN - NIGHT

We flash back to Dorothy’s place, where Jimmy and Dorothy are opening the door to the secret lair shed.

INT. SECRET LAIR - NIGHT

They ride down the elevator platform to the main room with all of the Spider-Angel suits in display cases.

EXT. ON TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER - NIGHT

Jimmy’s face again. He’s taking deep breaths, bracing himself for what’s to come.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Up next are various flashes of London; we see a shot of a busy street, one of Jimmy getting off the underground, one of the London skyline, and one of Jimmy going through a door that leads to the roof of the tower he’s on. All of this is accompanied by a voice-over.

ROWAN (V.O)  
I want you to know that whatever you do, I support you, and I know that it will be great, because you’re great, and you were born for this.

INT. SECRET LAIR - NIGHT

Jimmy walks up to the display case with Spider-Angel’s regular costume. This time, his reflection in the glass is able to fill the suit exactly. Symbolism.

PIERO (V.O)  
There’s so much fire in you, my boy. Sometimes you just need to let it shine.

Dorothy hands Jimmy a can of gold spray paint. Jimmy sprays something onto the back of the costume, though we don’t see what it is yet.

LISTER (V.O)  
I mean, they do say sometimes it’s best to just live in the moment.

EXT. SKYSCRAPER ROOF - NIGHT

Three shots of Jimmy on the skyscraper; at first, his face again, which looks nervous but determined; next, the top of his head, looking down onto the streets, revealing just how high up he is; and finally, Jimmy’s back. He’s spray-painted golden angel wings onto the back of his costume.

JIMMY  
I am not afraid. I was born for this.

He pulls down his mask and carefully slides over the edge of the building, making it so that he’s now only sticking to the edge of it by his hands and feet.

CARYS (V.O)  
Sometimes you’ve just gotta tell life where to stick it and take a leap of fate.

LISTER (V.O)  
(echoing)  
Leap of faith.

There’s a beat where the music slows down, and all we hear is Jimmy take a deep breath. Then he jumps. He falls through the air in slow motion, the music still calm. The angel wings on his back make it almost seem as though he’s flying. Then he picks up speed as he flies towards the ground. The people on the streets have taken notice.

INT. SECRET LAIR - NIGHT

Dorothy hands Jimmy a pair of his very own web-shooters, fitted for Jimmy’s wrists.

DOROTHY  
I made them myself. They fit perfectly.

EXT. LONDON - NIGHT

Jimmy stretches his arms towards the sky, web shooters at the ready, and releases two webs. The webs fly up through the air and attach to the roof of the skyscraper where Jimmy had been sitting just moments before.

As soon as they attach, the music picks up speed again, and Jimmy’s fall is stopped. He swings along the street, and lets go of the web, flying through the air once more. He shoots another web a little further, and we see him swing through the traffic, completely in his element. He lets go again and starts jumping from car to car along the street until he takes a right into a side street, running along the walls of the houses up to the rooftops. He shoots another web and pulls himself up to the roof of an even taller building, running across it and taking a flying leap onto the roof of the building next to it, which is right by the Thames.

JIMMY  
Wooooo!

The music reaches its final climax. Once he’s reached the edge of that roof, he comes to a halt, out of breath but exhilarated, pulls up his mask and looks over his city. He smiles, straightens up and puts on his mask again. He jumps down and disappears amongst the rooftops.

INT. BLACK BACKGROUND

One final comic book drops onto all of the other comic books, this time with Jimmy in his costume on the cover. The title reads “Spider-Angel” and at the bottom is Jimmy Kaga-Ricci’s name.

EXT. LONDON - NIGHT

Angel, Bliss, Lister and Juliet are perched on a crane, looking at the building the fundraiser is being held in, which has a domed roof made of glass. They’re all glitching more frequently now. Below them, rich and important people arrive and walk along a red carpet to the gala.

JULIET  
Right, so, we’ll have to find a way through the gala without being noticed.

They all jump over onto the roof and look through the glass. Down below them, the fundraiser is in full session, with guests sitting at round tables and Mac’s henchmen scattered around the room.

BLISS  
You’ve got to be shitting me.

INT. GALA ROOM - NIGHT

Mac is standing at a podium, about to start giving a speech.

MAC  
Thank you, thank you, everybody, for being here tonight to celebrate Spider-Angel. You know, she and I were actually very good friends…

EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT

Mac drones on below them, continuing his pretentious speech.

ANGEL  
What a prick.

BLISS  
Right? He’s like the human embodiment of a mosquito.

ANGEL  
Mm-hm. You know, my Juliet actually dated my universe’s Mac for a while too, but he was never this bad. I mean, yes, he was a compulsive liar, and he wore Yeezys, but that’s nothing compared to this.

LISTER  
Guess that’s what being a rich capitalist monster does to you.

Bliss and Angel nod. Juliet is distracted, noticing the servers, who are all dressed in Spider-Angel costumes with black bowties.

JULIET  
Wait, guys, look at how they’re dressed.

ANGEL  
Could it really be that easy?

INT. GALA - NIGHT

A little while later, all four of them have acquired their own bowties and catering trays, and are walking through the room.

LISTER  
It is that easy.

They reach a door at the other end of the room and sneak through while nobody’s looking.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

They discard their bowties and trays and run along a hallway. As they do that, the picture changes in a very ominous way, and we see them from the perspective of a security camera that’s following them.

INT. GALA - NIGHT

Lloyd, who’s standing a few steps next to Mac, is looking at that exact footage on a pad of his. He signals at Mac that there’s something urgent to discuss.

MAC  
But anyway, who am I to stand here droning on about stuff we all know already.

The guests laugh heartily at that.

MAC (CONT’D)  
Enjoy your evening and your food!

He steps down from the podium while the people around him applaud, and joins Lloyd.

MAC  
What is it?

LLOYD  
We’ve had a breach of security.

MAC  
Shit.

He taps at his earpiece.

MAC  
Carol, fire up the collider.

CAROL (O.S)  
But it’s not ready-

MAC  
I don’t care, do as I say.

CAROL (O.S)  
Well, all right then.

Mac looks back up at Lloyd.

MAC  
Let’s go.

INT. COLLIDER ROOM - NIGHT

We’re back inside the large circular room with the big portal machine. Currently, that exact machine is being fired up by Carol and a bunch of workers in the adjacent office. A computer-generated voice accompanies that process.

COMPUTER  
Initialising primary ignition sequence.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

Mac and Lloyd are walking along the same hallway the Spideys were in just before. They nod at two henchmen that are the door to an elevator and step through it. A short moment later, these same guards are shot at with spider-webs from above and pulled to the ceiling, passed out cold. We pan up and see the four heroes sticking to the ceiling.

ANGEL  
So now we know where to go, yay!

LISTER  
Bet Mr Anderscum didn’t see that coming.

BLISS  
Eyyy, nice nickname.

Lister grins at her. They all fall from the ceiling and Lister forcefully kicks open the door.

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT - NIGHT

One by one, the four Spideys swing down the elevator shaft.

INT. COLLIDER OFFICE - NIGHT

Mac struts into the office overlooking the collider and looks around.

MAC  
Where are they?

CAROL  
Who?

MAC  
Those Spider-people. They were running around upstairs.

CAROL  
Well, nobody’s here.

MAC  
All right, then, no time to lose. Start the sequence.

Carol sighs and presses a few commands into a nearby computer. Juliet’s face appears on it.

COMPUTER  
Searching for interdimensional match.

INT. COLLIDER ROOM - NIGHT

The collider starts powering up. On one side of the room, Bliss, Lister, Angel and Juliet run across the scaffolding and onto the machine while the Computer counts down.

COMPUTER  
Four… three… two… one…

They reach the top of the machine just as it fully powers up and the cannons on both sides start shooting beams of light which meet in the middle. The four of them all glitch once more.

JULIET  
All right, no time to lose.

One by one, they launch themselves up and crawl along the ceiling.

LISTER  
I’ll go put it in, you guys get ready to jump!

Lister crawls ahead of them and bashes the ceiling until he finds the panel hiding where he has to insert the key. He peels the panel back.

Below them, people have started taking notice of the four Spider-people. Several henchmen train guns at them, causing their spider-senses to act up. Lister pushes the key in halfway.

LISTER  
Jump!

The girls all let themselves fall towards the middle of the portal. Lister doesn’t.

ANGEL  
Lister, what are you doing?

LISTER  
I’m staying behind! It’s safer this way!

As if through an unspoken agreement, the girls all shoot webs at the ceiling to stop their fall, and instead swing back up to Lister.

BLISS  
Uh, no you don’t.

All of this hold-up has given Carol enough time to come crawling out of the office. She shows up behind them.

CAROL  
Nice to see you all again!

The four of them turn around and are met with Carol’s tentacle arms grabbing each one of their throats and slamming them against the ceiling. All around them, henchmen start shooting at them. Bliss, Angel and Juliet manage to break out of Carol’s grip and jump off in different directions. Bliss lands on top of one part of the machine and takes out two of the gunners. Juliet ends up on another part, but before she can shoot at a gunman, she glitches. Bliss jumps in to shield her from a blast by shooting a net-like web at the man.

BLISS  
I got you!

Angel faces off against Ben on a rotating part of the machinery. She evades several jabs from his scorpion tail, eventually managing to sling a web around it and pull it towards her, which throws Ben off-balance.

Meanwhile, Lister is still being held back by Carol. He tries to reach for the port to insert the key, but he can’t get to it. Carol pulls Lister away from the port and wraps one of her tentacle tubes tightly around his body. She raises another sharp tentacle threateningly over Lister’s face.

CAROL  
Any last words?

LISTER  
(choked up)  
Can I get a minute to think about it?

CAROL  
No.

The tentacle hovers above Lister’s body as she readies it to deliver a killing blow. However, when she tries to strike, it’s like an invisible force is keeping it back. That same invisible force turns the sharp end of the tentacle around and cuts off the tube that was holding Lister. Lister immediately pulls himself up to the ceiling and watches as Carol gets punched from several different angles by something unseen. Angel, who has Ben in a headlock, also looks up at the action.

CAROL  
Who’s doing that?

In preparation for a final blow, none other than Jimmy phases into existence. He leaps up and kicks her with incredible force, causing her to crash into the ceiling. Realising she lost this battle, she makes a quick getaway to the other end of the room.

Jimmy, meanwhile, lands on the ceiling next to Lister.

LISTER  
Jimmy!

JIMMY  
Hi!

LISTER  
You can do it on command!

JIMMY  
Yeah!

Angel, Juliet and Bliss all stare up at Jimmy in wonder.

ANGEL  
He actually did it!

LISTER  
God, I’m so glad you’re here. Listen, I’m really sorry for everything that I did and said. It was so shitty of me to just go ahead and get drunk on our last night together.

JIMMY  
No, I’m so sorry for being so cold and yelling at you when I should have been there for you!

LISTER  
No, no, no you were right! I- I am an alcoholic.

JIMMY  
Lister, this is great, I'm glad you're realising it. Will you do something about it when you're back in your universe?

LISTER  
I don't know. It's just- The thought of going back makes me so scared.

JIMMY  
I understand. I'm so sorry. But things will get better if you get help, Lister, I promise. Trust me, I know that first-hand.

LISTER  
Yeah. I really need to do something about all of that.

Even though Jimmy is wearing a mask, it is very clear that he’s smiling widely.

JIMMY  
I’m really glad.

Their chat is interrupted by Lloyd, who starts attacking the two of them, forcing them to scatter and shoot webs at him.

Suddenly, they all notice a column with a platform on it that is extending from the ground up towards the middle of the room, where the two light beams meet.

JULIET  
That can’t be good…

A black hole starts forming in the middle. Inside the black hole, a faint outline of another universe’s version of Juliet can be made out.

Inside the office, workers are furiously typing away, trying to make the process work.

WORKER  
Hold on… it’s too risky, sir!

MAC  
Shut up and turn it up.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Meanwhile, the collider is affecting the outside world as well. Up in London, earthquakes are rocking the streets, and random inter-dimensional objects force their way through the ground onto the streets. Rowan is out in the midst of it, trying to help an old lady get to safety.

ROWAN  
What the fuck…?

INT. COLLIDER ROOM - NIGHT

Even more objects from other dimensions are coming through the colourful portal. And by objects, I’m talking about the big stuff - since space is so warped inside the room by now, cars, buses, whole buildings can come through. Jimmy, Angel, Lister, Bliss and Juliet are thrown across the room by various forces and have to dodge incoming vehicles and street signs before they all gather by the side on top of one of the portal machines.

ANGEL  
Are you seeing this?

JULIET  
It looks like other dimensions are coming to us.

LISTER  
It does look kind of cool though…

ANGEL  
We have to get back up there.

Their Spidey-senses tingle again. From behind them, Lloyd, Ben and Harry attack. Bliss and Juliet jump across the room, Harry and Ben following them. Together, the girls manage to combine their fighting styles - while Bliss shoots various electrically charged webs at them, Juliet runs around them, tying them up with webs. Eventually, all it takes is a push and they fall through the portal into oblivion. About time.

On the other side, Angel, Lister and Jimmy take on Lloyd, which isn’t too hard either, since Lloyd is vastly outnumbered. They manage to knock him unconscious with a few quick jabs and also knock him down through the portal. Finally.

However, their victory is short-lived, since from across the room, Carol appears, freshly rejuvenated from their previous battle.

LISTER  
Ugh, not her again.

They all jump into fighting stances and start launching inter-dimensional objects at her, which she whacks aside. She grabs ahold of Lister with one of her tentacles and knocks his head against a car before throwing him towards the middle of the portal.

JIMMY  
Lister!

Jimmy jumps after Lister, who is slowly falling towards oblivion, still groggy from getting his head hit. Jimmy jumps across various cars and finally manages to catch up with Lister, who stretches his hand out to Jimmy. He grabs it.

LISTER  
Nice outfit, by the way.

JIMMY  
Thank you, I decorated it myself.

Jimmy shoots a web up towards Angel, who catches it and pulls both of them up.

ANGEL  
That was adorable, you guys! Now hold on tight!

She launches the two of them up towards Carol, who is perched on top of the portal machine. Lister reaches her first and lands a solid punch in her face, closely followed by a punch from Jimmy and one from Angel. It’s what she deserves. The three of them land behind her and collectively shove her into the portal light. Unfortunately, Carol doesn’t go down that easy. She stretches out her tentacles towards a building and grabs it, a furious look on her face. Then, she leaps back up towards them.

LISTER  
Buckle up, guys, this is going to take a while.

Carol flies towards them, laughing evilly. However, before she can reach them, a large lorry crashes into her, and both of them fly back through the portal into a different dimension, where hopefully her cells will decay before she manages to get back. Angel, Jimmy and Lister look at the display, surprised but delighted. Jimmy takes Lister’s hand.

LISTER  
All right, never mind.

ANGEL  
Let’s end this once and for all.

JIMMY  
I got this.

He steps towards the edge of the platform they’re on.

LISTER  
Wait, no, I’m the one with the key!

Jimmy holds up the flash drive that he took from Lister’s hand while he was distracted.

JIMMY  
Not anymore!

He winks. Lister is in love.

ANGEL  
Be careful!

JIMMY  
I always am!

Jimmy leaps off the platform and lands on some flying debris. He jumps down, falling through a narrow passage between two buildings that are stretching out of the portal and emerging through at the other side, swinging around until he lands on the rotating part of the portal machine. Once he’s reached the top, he jumps down on the other side again, shoots out a web and swings around the machine, gaining enough momentum to launch himself up to the ceiling and stick to it. Lister and Angel look on with awe.

LISTER  
We taught him that, right?

ANGEL  
I didn’t teach him that. And you definitely didn’t either.

Jimmy finally inserts the key into the port. The port starts flashing green.

JIMMY  
Guys, come up here! I did it!

The other four swing up to join him. Down by the portal, the faint Juliet outline fades out of existence again.

COMPUTER  
Alert! Quantum polarity has been reversed.

Mac, in his office, is naturally furious.

Meanwhile, Jimmy is joined by his friends. They all pull up their masks.

ANGEL  
I guess this is it…

JULIET  
Well… it’s nice to know we’re not alone, right?

ANGEL  
Definitely.

JIMMY  
Okay, we don’t have much time before the collider self-destructs. You go first, Juliet.

Juliet takes one last look around at her new friends.

JULIET  
You know, I had such a great time in the future. I’m going to miss you all so much.

She throws her arms around Bliss and Angel for a quick hug.

JULIET  
Remember what we talked about, Angel.

Angel nods and smiles.

JULIET  
Bliss?

BLISS  
Yeah?

JULIET  
In another life?

Bliss winks at Juliet.

JULIET  
Okay, bye then! Love you all!

She jumps down towards the portal. It flashes red once she makes contact, then she’s gone.

BLISS  
Well. I’ll miss you all. I mean, I have my own versions of you, but it’s not the same, you know?

Angel wraps her arms around Bliss.

ANGEL  
We’ll all miss you too.

Bliss smiles sadly, then turns to Jimmy.

BLISS  
Send Rowan my love, will you?

Jimmy nods.

JIMMY  
Gladly.

BLISS  
You’re going to be an amazing Spider-Angel. And Lister? It was my pleasure to be part of the chaotic bisexuals' crew with you.

Lister salutes.

LISTER  
Likewise, my fantubular friend.

Bliss grins, then she’s gone. Jimmy turns to Lister, not quite knowing what to say.

ANGEL  
Good luck, Lister. It was a blast knowing you, my guy.

LISTER  
You too, Angel.

They hug, then Angel turns around to give the boys some privacy.

JIMMY  
So.

LISTER  
So.

JIMMY  
This still feels kind of surreal.

LISTER  
Yeah.

They look at each other for a moment, then they both lean forwards at the same time and kiss. It’s epic. Colours swirl around them and the music swells while they spend their last few moments together. When they break apart, they lean their foreheads together for a few more beats, not quite ready to let go yet.

LISTER  
(whispering)  
I- I love you, Jimmy. I just needed to say that.

JIMMY  
I love you too.

They smile at each other, joy and sorrow both written on their faces. Lister presses one last lingering kiss on Jimmy's lips, then forces himself to let go and fall down through the portal. The two of them look at each other until they no longer can.

And then there were two.

JIMMY  
Your turn.

ANGEL  
Yeah. I guess it is.

JIMMY  
You’ll be okay, right?

Angel grins.

ANGEL  
No doubt about it.

Before Angel can say bye, though, their Spider-senses tingle again.

ANGEL  
Aw fuck, what now.

They turn around and through the floating debris, they see Mac standing on a building that is floating towards them. He’s holding a large gun and looks absolutely livid.

MAC  
You’re not going anywhere!

ANGEL  
I’ll hold him off, you shut this down.

JIMMY  
Angel, no! This wasn’t the deal!

Before Jimmy can stop her, Angel shoots a web and jumps.

ANGEL  
Push the green button! Do not wait for me!

Angel flies through the air but is suddenly stopped by a different web. Jimmy pulls her down onto a lorry.

ANGEL  
What are you doing?

JIMMY  
I’m making sure you get home!

ANGEL  
Mac could kill you! I can’t let Spider-Angel die!

JIMMY  
Neither can I.

They look at each other with anguish.

JIMMY  
Angel. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me. But I can do this now. I’ve learned everything you’ve had to teach me.

ANGEL  
I just- I just don’t want anything to happen to you.

JIMMY  
Yeah, me neither. But please, Angel. I’ve got this.

In a quick move, Jimmy sweeps Angel’s legs out from under her and Angel tumbles down over the edge of the lorry. Before she falls into the portal, Jimmy catches her by the shirt.

ANGEL  
How do I know I won’t mess everything up again?

JIMMY  
You don’t know. It’s just a leap of faith.

Angel nods and smiles at Jimmy.

ANGEL  
A leap of faith.

With one last look at each other that sums up their entire collective journey, Jimmy lets go, and Angel falls down through the portal, smiling up at Jimmy the whole way.

ANGEL  
Not bad, my guy.

Jimmy grins. Then she’s gone.

The fight is not over yet, though. Determined, Jimmy pulls his mask down and jumps onto a big building.

JIMMY  
Mac!

Mac appears at the other end of the building, teeth bared, fists clenched. The two of them face off against each other. Mac aims his gun at Jimmy, but Jimmy shoots a web at it and pulls it away, slinging the gun into oblivion.

JIMMY  
I hate guns.

A train flies by above them and Jimmy slings a web at it, taking off over and away from Mac. He sees the panel with the button a little bit further away from them.

JIMMY  
I have to get to that button…

Suddenly, a hand bursts through the window of the train and grabs Jimmy by the neck, pulling him into the carriage and slamming him against the floor. Jimmy struggles.

MAC  
Not so easy on your own, is it?

The carriage goes into the portal. Suddenly, they’re in a space between dimensions, filled with colourful webs and lights.

MAC  
You’re making it too easy.

On the other end of the carriage, someone starts fazing into view again. Mac looks up to see that it’s a version of Juliet.

JULIET  
Mac?

MAC  
I-

More versions of Juliet faze in and out of existence throughout the carriage.

JULIET #2  
What are you doing?

JULIET #3  
What’s happening?

Mac looks distressed.

JIMMY  
Is this really what you want?

MAC  
Juliet… hey, Jules, it’s me! You know me!

JULIET #1  
I don’t know you. I have to go.

She turns around. Mac lets go of Jimmy and tries to follow her.

MAC  
Juliet! Don’t go!

But she’s gone. The train is spat back out into the collider room and Jimmy and Mac are launched out of it, both landing on top of another building. They run towards each other and start punching and jabbing again.

Somewhere off to the side, Rowan appears. Space is so warped by now that he’s made it into the collider room. He looks on nervously.

ROWAN  
Come on, Jimmy.

Mac, despite his skinny frame, possesses surprising, almost inhuman strength. He gains the upper hand and punches Jimmy to the ground, towering over him.

MAC  
The real Spider-Angel couldn’t even beat me, what makes you think you can?

Jimmy crawls back, weakly shooting some webs at Mac, which he swats away.

MAC  
You made me lose the only girl I ever loved. Now I’m going to make sure you never love again.

Mac throws himself on top of Jimmy and starts choking him again. Jimmy, getting weaker by the second, turns his head around one last time and finally spots Rowan, who has tears streaming down his face.

ROWAN  
Please, Jimmy. No!

JIMMY  
(quietly, choking)  
Get- over- it.

MAC  
What did you say?

JIMMY  
I- said-

Gaining one last burst of strength, Jimmy kicks Mac in the crotch. Mac howls and weakens his grip. With immense force, Jimmy shoves him away, and Mac goes flying through the air. And finally, Jimmy stands up. He shoots two webs at Mac and then turns on the spot so that Mac is rotated through the air.

JIMMY  
Get over it!

Jimmy lets go and Mac goes flying, straight towards the panel with the button. He lands directly on it and in a blaze of glory, all of the buildings, cars, bridges and everything else from the other dimensions are pulled back through the portal. Its gravitational pull is immense, and it takes everything in Jimmy to stick onto the ceiling of the room. Mac, who’s unconscious, is not so lucky and gets sucked through. Good riddance.

A billion blazing universes, connected by intricate webs reflect in Jimmy’s eyes as the portal sucks through the last remaining debris, then, from one second to another, it’s closed. For a beat, everything is quiet, then the two parts of the machine start combusting, and a big explosion rocks the room.

The explosion settles. Smoke and debris fill the room once more. And somewhere in the middle, a lonesome Spider-Angel can be seen, hanging from the ceiling, clinging to a web.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - NIGHT

Sirens wail outside in South Kensington. Some remaining smoke from the explosion fills the streets as various first responders search through the damage. A little off from the scene, Rowan watches everything happen, frantically trying to reach Jimmy on the phone. A voice from a nearby alley distracts him.

VOICE  
Hey, Ro.

Rowan turns towards it and spots Jimmy leaning against a wall. He runs towards him and envelops him in a hug, burying his face in Jimmy’s neck.

ROWAN  
Fuck, I was so worried.

They both start crying again.

JIMMY  
Yeah, me too. But I’m okay. I promise.

Rowan pulls back and looks at Jimmy properly. Jimmy smiles.

JIMMY  
Want to go someplace to talk?

EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT

Jimmy and Rowan sit on the edge of a tall building and look over the city. It’s the same building they were on after Fereshteh's memorial when Jimmy first wanted to try out his powers.

JIMMY  
Well.

ROWAN  
Here we are again.

JIMMY  
I’m so sorry, Rowan.

ROWAN  
No, I’m sorry! I need to stop trying to shield you from everything.

JIMMY  
No, but I get it! This is such a dangerous job, and I nearly died several times today, any person would be worried. And you were right, I think the main reason I did this was out of obligation. Like, I made a promise to Spider-Angel and I felt like I was under so much pressure to commit to it, you know?

ROWAN  
Yeah. Fuck. Are you sure you want to be Spider-Angel?

JIMMY  
I don’t know. I mean, I am getting better at it, but I think I want to take it slow. Maybe not fight major supervillains for the time being, focus on saving people out of burning buildings instead.

Rowan laughs.

ROWAN  
I can get behind that. And I promise to tone down the mum-ing by at least 20%.

JIMMY  
20%? That's a lot.

ROWAN  
You're right, it's probably impossible. 10%, then.

They laugh and smile at each other. Jimmy rests his head on Rowan’s shoulder.

JIMMY  
I love you, Rowan. I’m so glad you were here with me for all of this.

ROWAN  
I love you too, Jimmy.

They sit in silence for a while, looking over the sparkling town below them. The sun is starting to rise in the distance.

ROWAN  
So. Uni starts today.

JIMMY  
What the fuck.

CUT TO BLACK


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything wraps up.

EXT. LONDON STREETS - DAY

Jimmy runs along the streets of his city, waving at pedestrians around him who all seem very happy to see a new Spider-Angel.

JIMMY (V.O)  
Okay, let’s do this one last time. For real this time.

He swings up onto a building and pulls himself onto a crane from there.

JIMMY (V.O)  
My name is Jimmy Kaga-Ricci. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the last two days, I have been the one and only Spider-Angel. You know the rest.

INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY

Jimmy is in his first lecture at university, sitting next to Rowan.

JIMMY (V.O)  
I finally started university…

EXT. LONDON STREETS - DAY

Jimmy swings past some excited onlookers, waving at them.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT'D)  
…saved a bunch of people…

INT. MUSIC ROOM - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are working on an original song together in the music room.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT'D)  
…wrote a song about all of this with Rowan…

INT. COUNSELLOR’S OFFICE - DAY

Jimmy is talking to Cecily once more. They’re referring him to a therapist.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT’D)  
…finally took some steps towards starting therapy...

INT. CAFETERIA - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are hanging out and laughing with Tara, Darcy and Frances.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT'D)  
…really got a hang of the university experience…

INT. THEATRE - DAY

We see Juliet in her universe, back to helping with a dance production.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT’D)  
…and when I feel alone…

EXT. LUNDOWN STREETS - NIGHT

Bliss is swinging through the streets of her universe, back to being a badass vigilante.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT’D)  
…like no one understands what I’m going through…

INT. SUPPORT GROUP MEETING - DAY

Lister is in a support group for queer addicts. He looks refreshed, ready to get better. Right now, he’s showing the other people in the room a selfie on his phone of him, Jimmy and Rowan from a few days ago when they were jamming in the practice room.

JIMMY (V.O, CONT’D)  
…I remember my friends who get it.

EXT. IN FRONT OF DOROTHY’S HOUSE - DAY

Angel, back in her universe, rings the doorbell by shooting a web at it. A short while later, her Juliet opens it, looking surprised. Angel smiles nervously.

ANGEL  
Can we talk?

Juliet grins and nods, inviting her in.

EXT. TOWER BRIDGE - EVENING

Jimmy swings along Tower Bridge, cars passing beneath him.

JIMMY (V.O)  
I never thought I’d be able to do any of this stuff. And I still get worried, I still have so many doubts about my abilities. But I’m working on it.

EXT. LONDON - EVENING

Jimmy swings through buildings and streets.

JIMMY (V.O)  
Because I can do this. Anyone can. And I know that now.

Jimmy takes a flying leap and swings up into the air, finally landing on top of the Shard. He looks over the city wistfully.

JIMMY (V.O)  
Because I’m Spider-Angel. And I’m not the only one.

INT. DINER - DAY

Jimmy and Rowan are at the same diner Jimmy and Angel were in last week. They’re watching their universe’s Lister take some orders at the other end of the room.

ROWAN  
We shouldn’t do this.

JIMMY  
God, I agree.

ROWAN  
I mean, I’m sure this Lister is fun and capable too, but…

JIMMY  
He’s just not our Lister.

ROWAN  
Exactly. Fuck.

Jimmy buries his face in his hands.

JIMMY  
I miss him so much.

ROWAN  
Yeah, me too.

They’re interrupted by Rowan’s phone ringing. Rowan picks it up.

ROWAN  
Hello?... Oh, hi, Pip!... Wait, I’m here with Jimmy, I’ll put in headphones quickly so that he can hear too…

Rowan takes out a pair of headphones, plugging them in and handing one earpod to Jimmy. They can both hear Pip clearly now.

ROWAN  
Okay, we’re back.

PIP (O.S)  
That’s great, cause we have some major news. Are you ready?

ROWAN  
Hit us.

PIP (O.S)  
So, Dae-Sung and I have been running some experiments, and, well… I think we’ve found a way to make multiverse travel safe.

INT. BIG WAREHOUSE - DAY

A few months have passed. Jimmy and Rowan walk into an abandoned warehouse to find a bunch of people gathered there already. They recognise Pip, Dae-Sung and Frances, but all of them brought along some friends. In the middle of the room is a big arch made out of metal, some complicated-looking machinery underneath it.

PIP  
Hey, you’re here, finally! I don’t think you’ve met my friends yet, these are Georgia and Rooney. They wanted to come along.

ROWAN  
Hey, what’s whirring!

ROONEY  
Hi, good to meet you all!

FRANCES  
And this is my best friend, Aled. You may or may not have launched his mother through an inter-dimensional portal.

JIMMY  
Oh… I’m sorry…

ALED  
Oh no, it’s fine. I’m glad actually. The world is better off without her. Is that a bad thing to say?

FRANCES  
Absolutely not, she was a monster.

JIMMY  
Yeah, I agree.

They beam at each other.

ROONEY  
Also, thanks for getting Lloyd out of this universe, we all had a personal bone to pick with him.

ROWAN  
You knew Lloyd?

GEORGIA  
Unfortunately, yes.

PIP  
Georgia poured wine down his shirt once.

GEORGIA  
Pip! …Yes, yes I did.

FRANCES  
Nice.

DAE-SUNG  
All right, shall we get this machine up and running?

PIP  
Oh, yes, please! This is so exciting, holy shit.

Pip and Dae-Sung walk over to the arch and start working on pressing a complicated sequence of buttons. The others gather around, looking on nervously. Frances clings onto Aled and Rowan’s arms while Rowan takes Jimmy’s hand in his for reassurance. Rooney has her arms wrapped around Georgia’s shoulders.

Once Pip and Dae-Sung are done typing in commands, they step back, and the machine fires up. Blue light appears under the arch, and a black hole forms in the middle.

The first person to step through is Juliet. She looks around, confused until she spots Jimmy and Rowan, and a smile breaks out on her face. She’s followed by Bliss, who finds her bearings quickly and grins at them, and Angel, also thrilled to be back. And finally, Lister comes through. He looks around with disbelief. His eyes catch Jimmy and Rowan’s.

LISTER  
Am I really… back?

Jimmy and Rowan smile at him.

JIMMY  
You’re back.

Lister whoops and pushes past the others, running over to his friends. He leaps into their arms and they’re all reunited and the girls all hug each other and everyone is feeling the love and the adventure and it’s beautiful.

CUT TO BLACK

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoy this! big shoutout to my bestie caitlin for beta-reading this thing, go follow her on twitter @drarrystar.
> 
> also follow me on social media, i'm @georgiaswarr on twitter and tumblr


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